An illustration of the new coronavirus that causes the disease COVID-19. Image courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control.
The surge in coronavirus cases long expected by public health officials could start to hit Massachusetts between April 7 and April 17, Gov. Charlie Baker said Monday, stressing the importance of taking steps to prepare additional health care capacity.
With the state’s testing apparatus up to thousands of patients per day, confirmed COVID-19 cases have recently been increasing at a rapid pace. Massachusetts had 4,955 cases Sunday afternoon and 48 deaths attributable to the disease.
That trend will likely continue, Baker forecast during his daily press briefing Monday, and according to at least some models could hit its apex in the next eight to 18 days.
“This isn’t an exact science, but generally speaking, most of the calculations that are out there with respect to Massachusetts, both some of the ones we’ve done and some of the ones other people have done, suggest that the surge here is probably going to start somewhere between [April] 7th and the 17th,” Baker said.
Baker announced that the federal government – which he criticized last week as handcuffing states’ efforts to acquire protective equipment – will send more than 1,000 ventilators to Massachusetts, which will make a “big difference” to the most critical patients. He said he expected the ventilators to arrive by week’s end, bringing the state’s total up to around, 2,400. A patient on a ventilator is known as being “on life support.”
About 1,800 people have registered to volunteer their medical expertise in hospitals amid the outbreak since the administration launched a portal last week, Baker announced Monday. They will be brought on board on an accelerated basis under a Department of Public Health order.
The governor outlined plans in motion to designate nursing homes specifically – and only – for care of patients with COVID-19. Beaumont Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Center in Worcester will start the process with 150 beds ready to begin transfer by Thursday, Baker said, before ramping up to a maximum capacity of about 300.
Altogether, the administration is targeting establishment of at least 1,000 beds for coronavirus-afflicted older adults, hoping both to lessen the strain on hospitals ahead of the forthcoming surge and to avoid requiring that skilled nursing facilities receive patients from hospitals.
In January, the Center for Health Information and Analysis in a report identified 14,596 acute care hospital beds across the state.
Through Sunday afternoon, the Department of Public Health confirmed 399 of the state’s 4,955 COVID-19 cases required hospitalization. In the same figures, 1,405 patients did not need to be admitted, and the hospitalization status remained unknown for another 3,151.
