With COVID On The Rise, How Are Hospital Capacities Near Wayne?

WAYNE, NJ — The recent spike in COVID-19 cases has put New Jersey hospitals under some strain. The state reported 1,526 hospital patients with confirmed or suspected cases — its highest figure since April 30.

Here's how hospitals in the Wayne area fared the week of Nov. 18 — the most recent period of available data from the Department of Health and Human Services:

• St. Joseph's Wayne Hospital: data unavailable
• St. Joseph's University Medical Center (Paterson): 36.11 percent of inpatient beds available, 62.6 percent of ICU beds available
• Chilton Medical Center (Pompton Plains): 40.47 percent of inpatient beds available, 81.25 percent of ICU beds available
• St. Mary's General Hospital (Passaic): 52.98 percent of inpatient beds available, 62.16 percent of ICU beds available
• Valley Hospital (Ridgewood): 17.05 percent of inpatient beds available, 33.33 percent of ICU beds available
• Mountainside Medical Center (Montclair): 46.09 percent of inpatient beds available, 65.63 percent of ICU beds available

The ratio of COVID-19 hospitalizations to total beds provides insight into how much strain a hospital is under. The ratio becomes concerning when it rises higher than 10 percent and represents "extreme stress" above 20 percent, hospital-capacity experts told NPR.

NPR has COVID-19 data on two Passaic County hospitals — neither of which exceeded the 10 percent threshold. St. Joseph's University Medical Center reported 6 percent of beds in use by COVID patients, while St. Mary's had 3 percent in use by patients with the virus.

Passaic County, like the entire state, has recently seen a spike in coronavirus cases. The New Jersey Department of Health tallied 1,220 new Passaic County cases this past week. The county had 344 new cases in that timeframe one month ago.

Despite the recent increase in hospitalizations, New Jersey has made progress compared to this time a year ago, when the state reported 3,572 COVID inpatients.

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