A reporter for nj.com interviews doctors who have answers to questions we all might have about the disease
By Susan K. Livio | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
On Saturday, Gov. Chris Christie tweeted that he had tested positive for COVID-19, and on his doctor’s advice, had “checked” himself into Morristown Medical Center, a hospital close to his home in Mendham.
Christie, 58, who likely contracted the virus after days of mask-less, prolonged contact President Trump and his inner circle during the previous week, wrote that he had only “minor symptoms” and was “feeling good.”
But soon after he tweeted, people started asking questions on social media. When should people infected with the virus seek hospital care? Can anyone “check into” a hospital like he said he did?
A spokesman from Morristown Medical Center would not comment on the governor’s condition Tuesday. Christie’s twitter account has been quiet since Saturday night. Although he called Star-Ledger columnist Tom Moran Monday morning, Christie declined to discuss his prognosis.
To answer these questions, NJ Advance Media spoke to Daniel W. Varga, chief physician executive for Hackensack Meridian Health, and Michael Cascarina, president-elect of the New Jersey Academy of Family Physicians. Neither doctor is involved with the governor’s treatment.
Q: Can people “check themselves into a hospital?” Don’t they need permission from their doctor first?
A: No, people don’t check in to a hospital like a hotel. But doctors make “direct admissions” to the hospital all the time, Varga and Cascarina said. It not only spares the patient a wait in the emergency room, it expedites the care a doctor feels is necessary.
It’s likely “Gov. Christie’s physician just said, ‘I am going to call over and arrange an admission. Go and present yourself to the admitting area and I’ll get you in,’ ” Varga said.
Q: Why would someone be admitted to the hospital so soon after diagnosis?
A: The most serious symptom of COVID-19 is shortness of breath, both doctors agreed.
If the patient has other risk factors, the urgency of hospital care increases.
“Age is probably the biggest risk factor — people over 50 and especially over 65,” Cascarina said. People would be considered high risk if they had a history of heart disease, obesity, diabetes and a chronic lung disease, such as asthma, he said.
Christie checks at least three of those boxes — he is 58 years old and has long struggled with weight issues. The governor underwent lap band surgery in 2013. Christie was hospitalized in 2011 – less than two years into his first term as governor – at Somerset Medical Center in Somerville after suffering an asthma attack on a particularly humid day.
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