Bergen County Hospitals Prepare For Coronavirus 'Surge'

BERGEN COUNTY, NJ — COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations are trending upward in Bergen County, New Jersey's most impacted region during the initial wave of the coronavirus.

Officials from hospitals across the state say they are better prepared for a second surge of the virus, but note that, again, Bergen County is uncomfortably positioned as a hot spot.

At Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck, a representative from the hospital told Patch in a Tuesday email that they are seeing a "consistent uptick in activity" as it relates to COVID-19.

The hospital had 37 coronavirus patients in their building as of Tuesday, including two patients on ventilators. Five of those patients were possible discharge candidates, but even at 32 patients, the number is climbing.

"Around this time last week we had about 20 patients," the representative told Patch, "the week prior about a dozen."

Holy Name, and Bergen County, for that matter, aren't unique in noticing a rise in cases.

The New Jersey Department of Health reported 395 new cases of the coronavirus in the county Thursday, just part of the state’s 3,517 new cases.

In the northern region of the state, which includes Bergen County, there were 901 hospitalizations reported Wednesday, nearly half of the state’s 1,827 total hospitalizations.

"The surge we anticipated was going to come is here," said Bergen New Bridge CEO Deborah Visconi.

"Bergen County, once again, is one of the hotspots in the north," she added.

Hospitalizations are still lower than they were at the end of April and beginning of May, when patients cleared 5,000 across the state, and 3,000 in the northern region alone.

In just one night in March, Holy Name was caring for 100 patients who had either tested positive for the coronavirus, or were awaiting results, stretching the hospital far too thin.

But one look at the graphs available on the state's COVID-19 dashboard can tell you the curve is once again going the wrong way.

Two months ago, on Sept. 11, there were 460 hospitalizations in the state, and 227 in the northern region. On Oct. 11, there were 662 hospitalizations statewide, and 279 in the northern region.

For those keeping score at home, that’s almost 1,200 more hospitalizations statewide on Nov. 11 than on Oct. 11.

At Bergen New Bridge Medical Center in Paramus, Visconi said there were no coronavirus patients in the hospital Thursday, but seven on Tuesday.

Visconi predicts things will get worse from here, but hospital officials from throughout the county aren't saying they've reached scorched Earth levels quite yet.

"The good news is, many of these patients are less sick - so we're not seeing the same severity in cases we saw at the height of pandemic," said a representative from Holy Name.

Visconi also noted that patient cases seem less severe during a Thursday evening phone call.

"More good news," said a Holy Name representative, "we have better treatment protocols and access to promising clinical trials, including the Regeneron study."

You'll recall that Regeneron is the company which makes the antibody cocktail given to President Donald Trump after he tested positive for the coronavirus. The cocktail is what Holy Name has access to when treating patients, and they're able to enroll more of them in the study now than in weeks past.

"A few weeks ago, we were enrolling 2-3 patients a week in the Regeneron studies. Now, we're enrolling 3-5," said a Holy Name representative.

Both Bergen New Bridge and Holy Name believe the availability of antibody treatments — Bergen New Bridge will have access to Eli Lilly's, Visconi said — will help once patients are in the building.

Asymptomatic testing, Visconi noted, is what officials at Bergen New Bridge believe can stop them from being admitted at all.

She’s noticed a "tremendous amount of asymptomatic spread" through the hospital's mobile testing partnership with Bergen County, and even seen the trend among hospital staff.

Next week, the hospital will implement mandatory testing for all 2,200 of their employees. The testing will be conducted department by department, and employees will receive a test every other week, Visconi said.

"The way to find the virus, and stop the virus in its tracks, is by asymptomatic testing," she added.

State officials have tried their hand at stopping the virus in recent days by rolling out a series of restrictions, hoping to quell the spread.

As of 5 a.m. Thursday, restaurants, bars and personal care businesses will have to alter their opening hours and indoor capacity limits. Also on Thursday, Gov. Phil Murphy signed an order giving towns and counties the option to close nonessential businesses at 8 p.m.

Interstate indoor sports have been canceled, for the most part, with state guidance saying all games and tournaments, up to and including the high school level, are prohibited. College and professional sports will not be affected.

The limit on athletics was capped off when New Jersey joined six other states in suspending interstate youth hockey for the rest of 2020, after it was announced that more than 70 cases were connected to 14 outbreaks of the coronavirus in Gloucester, Union, Somerset, Bergen, Morris, Passaic and Mercer counties, state Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said.

Travel advisories have also been issued, but, largely, the guidance has proved to be just that; more bark than bite.

So, many of the steps taken by hospitals now are in preparation for what could happen after the winter holidays, when travel and family gatherings — which the state is urging residents not to do — could create another "pop," Visconi predicted.

Ridgewood’s Valley Hospital has created a new emergency management plan for the coronavirus, "aggressively" sourced personal protective equipment with a goal of keeping at least a 90-day supply on hand, and implemented "COVID-19 predictive models," which the hospital hopes will give them an accurate estimate of case numbers for a 45-day period.

Holy Name has "refined" their procedures, and is using a $5 million grant from the state Department of Health to fund two project that will assist in COVID-19 testing and flu prevention.

A new intensive care unit is being built for non-COVID-19 patients, and the ICUs and "step-down" units the hospital built in the spring are still in place to treat new coronavirus patients.

Similarly, Visconi said Bergen New Bridge is "dusting off" their coronavirus preparedness plans, and also has a back stock of 90 days worth of PPE.

A temporary hospital built by Holt Construction in the spring provides Bergen New Bridge with additional beds, and, following a walk-through of the facility earlier Thursday, Visconi reports it could be used immediately, if necessary.

Maybe those beds won’t be needed, though. When asked what she was expecting to see regarding case numbers, Visconi admittedly was unsure.

"I think that it’s going to be more than zero," she said.

But if the surge does continue, perhaps amplifying during and after the holiday season, area hospitals won’t be surprised, and, Visconi said, they’re better equipped to handle it now than they were in the spring.

"We’re ready," she said.