Fall River hospitals seeing very few hospitalizations this month due to COVID-19; even less in ICU

Fall River hospitals have seen very few hospitalizations this month due to the coronavirus when overflow shelters were being built just a few months ago.

According to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Charlton Memorial Hospital currently (August 15th) has 2 either suspected or confirmed hospitalizations due to COVID-19. So far this month, Charlton has not seen more than 5 suspected or confirmed hospitalizations and have averaged exactly 3. Hospitalized COVID patients in ICU at Charlton – both suspected and confirmed- have not been higher than 1 this month with 9 days registering none.

St. Anne’s Hospital, who hasn’t seen more than 2 either suspected or confirmed hospitalizations this month, has been sending their COVID-19 patients to Morton Hospital in Taunton during most of the pandemic. Besides Saturday, Morton, who was a coronavirus hub, had not had more than 1 suspected or confirmed hospitalization due to COVID-19 this month and has resumed elective procedures, their clinics are open, and their emergency room is running as normal.

On Friday, Massachusetts saw a total of 146 new hospitalizations. 22 of the 146 were confirmed. The rest were suspected. “Confirmed” cases are those with a PCR test. “Suspected” are those with symptoms who have not had a test result yet.

The Southcoast Health COVID-19 surge hospital 98-bed facility located in the Tripp Athletic Center at UMass Dartmouth closed at the end of May after not receiving a patient.

The facility was built in April in partnership with the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) to safeguard the capacity of the region’s hospitals during the COVID-19 spring surge.

In yesterday’s COVID-19 report, Massachusetts saw a decrease in COVID-19 hospitalizations for a third straight day as positive cases and testing rose and 14 more were reported dead.