New Data Shows Rise In Coronavirus Cases At Lawrence General

LAWRENCE, MA — Recently updated data released by the federal government shows how rapidly Lawrence General Hospital has filled with coronavirus patients over the last month's surge in the area.

As Patch previously reported, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services last week published capacity data for tens of thousands of hospitals nationwide. The new data painted a clearer picture of how many beds are available at each hospital. The new, more granular data aggregates daily hospital reports into a "week at a time" picture.

The new data shows that Massachusetts hospitals still have space to add more patients — but caseloads are growing fast.

And Lawrence General is carrying more of that burden than any other Essex County hospital, with more than one-quarter of its beds filled with coronavirus patients, as of the week of Dec. 4 to 10. Almost three-quarters percent of the hospital's beds are occupied.

Patch reached out to Lawrence General for comment and will update this story when we hear back.

According to the federal data, Lawrence General has added coronavirus patients while its capacity has held steady over the last month. The week of Nov. 6, the hospital had 171 total adult inpatient beds, and that number dropped to 165 in the latest week reported. Its confirmed and suspected coronavirus patient population rose from a daily average of 19.4 to 41.1.

Over that period, the proportion of adult inpatient beds used by coronavirus patients more than doubled from 9.0 percent to 24.9percent.

Health experts have said the share of coronavirus hospitalizations out of the total beds is key to understanding how hospitals are strained. If that percentage eclipses 10 percent, it's cause for concern, they said. Hospitals are considered to be under extreme stress when the share of coronavirus hospitalizations to total beds tops 20 percent, and immense stress as the number approaches 50 percent.

Here are the capacity numbers for Lawrence General Hospital, according to federal Health and Human Services data, compared to the Nov. 6 to 12 data.

Lawrence General Hospital

• Total Beds (7-day average): 242.6 (down from 254)
• All Adult Hospital Beds (7-day avg): 231.3 (down from 237)
• All Adult Hospital Inpatient Beds (7-day average): 165.3 (down from 171)
• Inpatient Beds Used (7-day average): 129.4 (down from 140.3)
• All Adult Hospital Inpatient Bed Occupied (7-day average): 120.1 (down from 122.1)
• Percent of inpatient beds used (Overall): 72.7 percent (up from 71.4 percent)
• Total Adult Patients Hospitalized Confirmed And Suspected COVID-19 (7-day average): 41.1 (up from 19.3)
• Percent of Adult Inpatient Beds Used By Confirmed and Suspected COVID-19 Patients: 24.9 percent (up from 11.4 percent)
• Total Adult Patients Hospitalized Confirmed COVID-19 (7-day average): 31.7 (up from 13.7)
• Percent of Adult Inpatient Beds Used By Confirmed COVID-19 Patients: 19.2 percent (up from 8.0 percent)
• Inpatient Beds (7-day average): 176.6
• Total ICU Beds (7-day average): 14.6
• Total Staffed Adult ICU Beds (7-day average): 14.6
• ICU Beds Used (7-day average): 11.3
• Staffed Adult ICU Bed Occupancy (7-day average): 11.3
• Staffed ICU Adult Patients Confirmed And Suspected COVID-19 (7-day average): 8.7

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.