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Maryland emergency rooms crowded, hospitals issue advisories to EMS workers

A Montgomery County Battalion Chief said those advisories are temporary and they are managing well.

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — Hospitals are busy and so are EMS workers as the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations increase and flu season begins. 

On Thursday, Fort Washington Hospital and Holy Cross Germantown were under a temporary “red alert” in the state’s hospital alert tracking system. A red alert advises EMS workers that inpatient critical care beds are full outside of the emergency department.

The MedStar Washington Hospital Center remained under a “yellow alert” on Thursday, indicating the hospital's emergency department is busy and advising EMS personnel to divert patients. 

“The emergency department temporarily requests that it receive absolutely no patients in need of urgent medical care," the alert tracking system says of yellow alert level. "Yellow alert is initiated because the emergency department is experiencing a temporary overwhelming overload such that priority II and III patients may not be managed safely.”

Both advisories are temporary and according to Montgomery County Battalion Ben Kaufman, EMS workers in Montgomery County are managing well.

“As a region, it can be alarming to see a bunch of different hospitals on alert at any one time," Kaufman said. "But we've asked the hospitals to give us information about what's going at their facility, whether the emergency rooms just backed up or the hospital itself is so full that they're requesting that we go to another hospital."

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In the last seven days, some hospitals in D.C., Calvert County, Montgomery County, Prince George’s County and St. Mary’s County have spent more than a cumulative day in the “red alert” advisory, according to the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems tracking data for the region.

During that same time frame, 15 different area hospitals in that region issued a “yellow alert” advisory. When hospitals are under a yellow alert the hospital could have plenty of room to admit patients, but the emergency department is busy, according to Kaufman. 

Credit: The Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems
Hospital Alert Tracking System from Nov. 26 to Dec. 3.


Ted Delbridge, the executive director for The Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems, said hospitals are always busy this time of year, and there’s not much of a difference this year compared to last.

"Hospitals are pretty full and they generally are this time of year," Delbridge said. “That's not made any better by COVID-19 obviously. There are more than 1,500 patients in Maryland, in the hospital with COVID-19 and so that makes them a little bit busier.”

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Kaufman said in Montgomery County the number of hospital-issued advisories to EMS workers always picks up this time of year due to the flu and other winter illnesses. He urged people not to avoid calling 911 for fear of catching COVID-19. He said there are precautions in place to protect everyone involved. 

As hospitals continue to see spikes in COVID-19 patients, Kaufman said they are preparing for a potential peak in the coming weeks.

“We're using a couple of different models that are indicating that we may have an increase in community numbers of COVID patients which would translate to a higher number of patients admitted in the hospitals, and the latest projections are looking at mid-January for that,” Kaufman said.

Delbridge is urging people to remain vigilant and not be complacent on protecting themselves from the virus. 

"Keep on wearing a mask -- this is definitely not the time to be complacent about the presence of COVID-19 in the community," Delbridge said. "Message two is, if you haven't gotten a flu shot yet this year, please get a flu shot. The flu is preventable by and large and people really need to take advantage of that opportunity.”

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