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As of Wednesday, Dec. 9, the county's hospitals had 539 people with COVID-19, according to Dr. Val Arkoosh, chair of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners.
Additionally, 239 cases were reported since Tuesday, Dec. 8. Among them, a 5-year-old baby and a 95-year-old individual, Arkoosh said.
Despite hospitals being much better equipped to face the pandemic than they were in March or April, the county's healthcare system has never had this many COVID-19 patients before -- even at the onset of the pandemic, the physician said.
The situation is dire, Arkoosh said.
Each day since last Friday, between two and four of the county's nine acute care hospitals were on divert for at least four hours, Arkoosh said. Divert status means emergency rooms are full, and ambulances must take patients to different hospitals, often further away.
Staff at all county hospitals have been exposed or infected due to substantial amounts of the virus circulating in the community, Arksoosh said.
The challenge for Montgomery County's hospitals is not the space to put beds, rather, having enough personnel to care for the patients, she noted.
Montgomery County's hospitals sit right on the borders of other counties and contain more beds than most other area hospitals, Arkoosh said. Therefore, it's no surprise the Montgomery County's hospitals are seeing a much higher number of patients than hospitals in surrounding areas.
Arkoosh urged residents to wear masks, stay six feet apart, work from home if possible and get tested.
Testing sites are available 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at all six locations in Montgomery County. This Saturday, the Lansdale site will be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Click here to make a testing appointment (click "register" at the top of the page).
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