Considerations about Lengthy Seaside hospital capability are rising with coronavirus instances – The Sign Tribune newspaper

As Moncton prepares for the continued spread of the coronavirus, there are growing concerns about how many patients the city’s hospitals could treat if the pandemic worsens.

“The city is actively working with our health care providers and we are preparing for all of the community’s needs,” said Chelsey Finegan of the city’s Joint Information Center’s All Hazards Incident Management Team.

According to 2018 census data, there are currently 1,800 patient beds in Moncton, a city of over 467,000 residents. There is one hospital bed for every 260 residents of Moncton, and approximately 3.84 patient beds are available for every 1,000 residents.

All Moncton hospitals have medical surge plans that have contingencies when capacity is reached, Finegan told the Signal Tribune.

Moncton has, on average, more hospital capacity than the state and nation. According to a study by QuoteWizard after analyzing the data collected by the Kaiser Family Foundation, there are an average of only 2.4 patient beds available per 1000 residents in the US, and 1.82 per 1000 Californians, that number rises to 3.84 in Long Strand.

Given the small number of patient beds compared to the population of the state and nation, officials have issued home and social distancing orders to “flatten” the curve of the spreading disease. This refers to measures to slow the spread of the infection so that the total number of infections occurs over a longer period of time to prevent too many cases from overwhelming the health system at the same time. Unless health care workers are overwhelmed by a sudden surge in coronavirus patients, they are better equipped to treat the patients in their care.

To keep local hospitals from being overwhelmed during the pandemic, the USNS Mercy hospital ship arrived at the port of Los Angeles on Friday, March 27 to receive non-coronavirus cases, so local health workers could keep up focus on treating coronavirus patients. President Donald Trump has also extended federal social distancing guidelines through April 30.

According to Mayor Robert Garcia’s email newsletter, the city had a coronavirus-related case of a woman in her fifties with pre-existing health conditions. There are currently 106 positive cases of coronavirus in Moncton, 5,739 in the state, and 140,904 in the US, according to the city’s website.

“Due to limited testing capacity, the number of people with COVID-19 is likely to be much higher,” Garcia said. “If you want to help us stop the emergency that may arise in our hospitals in the coming weeks, you need to stay home and keep social distance whenever possible.”