A subtle flattening of the curve is evident, state Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine said of the coronavirus last week, but her department, along with local officials, continue to plan for “what ifs” when it comes to hospital capacity.

“The Department of Health, working with the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, is evaluating the need for alternate care sites in the midst of COVID-19,” Department of Health spokesman Nate Wardle said in an email. “This includes in the northeast part of the state, where we are seeing increasing numbers of cases.”

On Tuesday, the Department of Health announced a care site will be set up at East Stroudsburg University.

Department of Health officials expect the surge of cases to happen in the Northeast later this week or early next week.

The Department of Health launched a hospital preparedness dashboard that provides county-level information, including the number of available beds and ventilators in use at facilities across the state. The dashboard also provides an overview of the capacity of the state’s entire health care system.

In Carbon County, for example, there are now 20 medical or surgical beds available, 13 airborne isolation room beds and four adult intensive care unit beds.

During a conference call last week, Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency Director Randy Padfield said the state was looking for facilities that can house patients with less serious medical conditions to free up space in existing hospitals to deal with patients with coronavirus. At that point, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has inspected 24 sites around the state.

Local emergency management directors were asked to put together a list of possible locations in their counties that could serve that purpose.

“We can’t really discuss that as far as those possible locations,” Mark Nalesnik, Carbon County EMA director, said. “We did specifically talk to St. Luke’s about the former Palmerton Hospital. One of the things we learned at that point though was that some asbestos removal and construction had already taken place. To use any facility, the Army Corps of Engineers would have to come in and assess things before that could happen.”

Last week, John Nespoli, president of St. Luke’s Carbon County campuses, said the network feels good about its potential to handle the influx of patients within its current facilities at Lehighton, which has 150 beds.

“We feel much better about expanding our capacity to treat patients at our Lehighton campus,” Nespoli said. “Our emergency department there has added capacity, including the ability to see those with mild symptoms. We have negative pressure rooms to contain airborne contaminants within the room. We have stopped elective surgeries so our operating rooms are sitting there for use. As for as capacity goes, we feel we’re in a good place right now.”

In Monroe County, one of the virus hot spots around the state, the database shows 193 medical or surgical beds available, three airborne isolation rooms and 12 adult intensive care unit beds.

“We also submitted 3-4 different spots around our county that could be used if capacity is necessary, but we can’t say where those are,” Bruce Henry, Monroe County EMA director, said on Wednesday. “Ideally, you would want somewhere with a lot of floor space and great ADA accessibility.”

The full database can be found through a link on the Pennsylvania Department of Health website.

“We are continuing to look at potential alternate care sites as well, whether it be those that are state or federally assisted, using ambulatory surgical facilities, or other options as we move forward and determine whether our capacity is sufficient,” Wardle said. “So far, 36% of our ICU beds are still available for use.”

Henry said the Monroe EMA office has been busy getting personal protective equipment such as masks and gloves to first responders.

“There is shortage of supplies but it’s starting to come around,” Henry said. “We’re not seeing as many as we would like. We may get a request for a couple hundred and be able to give out a handful.”

The state’s database also tracks ventilator use and availability in each county.

Carbon County has no ventilators in use, with four available, while in Monroe, there are three ventilators in use by COVID-19 patients, with 18 more available.

Schuylkill County has 10 ventilators available with four in use. Northampton County has 49 ventilators in use by COVID-19 patients and 110 available, while Lehigh has 53 in use and 125 available.

“We have discovered there are actually more ventilators than we initially anticipated, which is a really good thing,” Levine said. “We do have a stockpile of ventilators for the Department of Health, and we have purchased ventilators.”