How Close Are Warren Area Hospitals To Capacity? Latest

WARREN, NJ — The ongoing increase of COVID-19 hospitalizations continues to add stress to hospital systems across the country, and some facilities are now considering scaling back elective surgeries to temper demand.

Nationally, COVID-19 hospitalizations have hit a new pandemic high with more than 151,000 patients hospitalized, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. More than 1 out of every 5 inpatient hospital beds and 1 out of every 4 intensive care unit beds are being used for COVID-19 patients as of Jan. 12.

State health officials in New Jersey reported to the federal government Jan. 11 that approximately 71 percent of inpatient beds and 53 percent of intensive care unit beds in hospitals across the state were occupied. Around 29 percent of inpatient beds and 27 percent of ICU beds statewide were filled by COVID-19 patients, they reported.

Hospitals across the country are also contending with staff shortages that have only worsened throughout the pandemic; the shortage is being compounded by staff who are infected and need to go into isolation. The California Department of Public Health is considering suspending certain elective surgeries as stress increases on that state's the hospital system.

Health experts have warned that people shouldn’t write off preventative measures due to growing evidence that the omicron variant is less severe than previous variants. The sheer number of people getting infected at once could overwhelm the hospital system, even if the majority of cases are mild, experts say.

“I remain very worried about our hospitals' ability to care for everyone who needs care over next 6 weeks,” tweeted Dr. Anish Jha, dean of the Brown University School of Public Health. 

There are still at least 40 million Americans who are vulnerable, either due to being unvaccinated or being at high risk without a booster dose, Jha said.

Some states have announced plans to break down COVID-19 hospitalization data by those who are hospitalized “with” the virus and “for” the virus. University of California researchers attempted to answer the question, but found that the “with” and “for” distinction can be nuanced in many cases. Also, every hospitalized COVID-19 patient requires additional isolation procedures, which is time-consuming and represents an extra demand on hospital resources regardless of the distinction

The latest hospitalization numbers from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for Somerset County, included below, are from Dec. 31-Jan. 6 and represent a rolling seven-day average. Note that the figures for occupied hospital beds sometimes exceed 100 percent; this is because more than one patient sometimes occupies a bed over the course of a week.

Below are the latest figures for hospitals in Somerset County.

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ROBERT WOOD JOHNSON UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL SOMERSET
110 REHILL AVE, SOMERVILLE

• All adult inpatient beds: 323
• Inpatient beds occupied: 232.7
• Inpatient beds used by confirmed and suspected COVID-19 patients: 78
• Percent of inpatient beds used: 72.04%
• Percent of inpatient beds used by confirmed and suspected COVID-19 patients: 24.15%
• All adult ICU beds: 46
• ICU beds occupied: 21.3
• ICU beds used by confirmed and suspected COVID-19 patients: 14.4
• Percent of ICU beds used: 46.30%
• Percent of ICU beds used by confirmed and suspected COVID-19 patients: 31.30%

MATHENY SCHOOL & HOSPITAL, THE
65 HIGHLAND AVENUE, PEAPACK

• All adult inpatient beds: 71.7
• Inpatient beds occupied: 70.7
• Inpatient beds used by confirmed and suspected COVID-19 patients: N/A
• Percent of inpatient beds used: 98.61%
• Percent of inpatient beds used by confirmed and suspected COVID-19 patients: N/A
• All adult ICU beds: 0
• ICU beds occupied: 0
• ICU beds used by confirmed and suspected COVID-19 patients: 0
• Percent of ICU beds used: N/A
• Percent of ICU beds used by confirmed and suspected COVID-19 patients: N/A

Editor’s note: This list was automatically generated using data compiled by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The local hospitals included in the list are limited to those included in the government data, and the numbers reported by these hospitals to HHS have not been independently verified by Patch. Please report any errors or other feedback to us.