At one New Jersey hospital emergency room, the electronic status board of many waiting to be seen reports symptoms that in another time might seem innocuous. Coughs. Sore throats. Slight fevers.

All were fearful they had been stricken with coronavirus. None of them were suspected to actually have COVID-19.

It’s a situation playing out in hospitals throughout the state.

“The New Jersey Department of Health is aware of spikes of ‘worried well’ in hospital emergency departments,” said Donna Leusner, a spokeswoman for the department. “Emergency rooms are busy.”

A factor feeding that anxiety might be that flu activity is very high in the state right now. That has caused those who have been hit with some kind of bug to worry that what they have could be far worse, experts say. But an increase in patients who do not really need to be seen by an emergency room doctor has been putting stress on an already stretched system.

“The hospitals are on the front lines. They are treating patients who have tested positive while dealing with those with anxieties,” said Judy Persichilli, the state’s health commissioner, at a press briefing in Ewing on Friday.

At the same time, she pointedly noted that medical workers themselves are at risk.

Kevin Slavin, head of of St. Joseph’s Health in Paterson, on Friday disclosed that an emergency medical doctor in his hospital recently tested “presumptive positive” for the coronavirus. Dr. James Pruden, the medical director of emergency preparedness at St. Joseph’s was admitted with upper respiratory and cold-like symptoms on March 6.

“Those of us who have devoted our lives to the health care of others know and understand the challenge COVID-19 represents,” Slavin said, adding that the state’s 150,000 hospital workers remain at risk.

Pruden is currently isolated at the hospital, according to Slavin. Others who had contact with the physician have not tested positive for the virus. But he warned similar diagnoses of doctors and hospital workers are likely to continue as more hospitals admit infected people.

“We are all at risk of this,” the hospital system CEO said.

The statewide total of those who have tested positive for coronavirus now stands at 50, according to the health department.

Kerry McKean Kelly of the New Jersey Hospital Association said many emergency rooms around the state are now at capacity as more people seek reassurance that their symptoms are not related to the outbreak.

“The emergency departments are very busy,” she said, also citing the flu season still underway. “We don’t have a full canvas of the state. There are pockets here and there in terms of volume. But statewide, there is very heavy traffic into the emergency departments.”

Not all hospitals have been seeing those numbers. Christopher F. Freer, director of emergency medicine at RWJBarnabas Health, said emergency room visits in his hospital network’s system are pretty much tracking where it was at this point last year, attributing that as well to the flu season. But there is concern.

“There’s definitely fear and we’re fielding questions from nursing homes, doctors and patients,” he said.

For those with flu symptoms, he said if they would not have gone to a hospital emergency room for treatment in the past, they should not go now.

“This is new. There’s a fear of the unknown,” Freer acknowledged of the concerns over coronavirus. But he said patients should not head to the emergency room before checking with their doctor.

Despite the increase in ER visits — and the strain on capacity — the state’s 71 acute care hospitals are not yet facing the kind of crushing overflow of sick patients that has forced countries like Italy to triage cases, leaving some of the sickest people to their fates. What they have seen is increases in wait times.

“It’s taxing the emergency departments. But they prepare for this,” said Kelly.

She added, though, that hospital surge plans could be executed if the volume of patients were to soar, leading to the use of alternate facilities and even medical tents.

Even now, however, nurses and certified nursing assistants in hospitals and nursing homes across the state have been raising concerns about critical shortages of protective gear, including masks. Representatives from six labor unions have called on the Murphy administration to “ensure all healthcare facilities have the supplies, training materials, and staffing support they need to reduce everyone’s risk of exposure.”

Persichilli on Friday acknowledged that supplies of personal protective equipment have been running low.

“It’s running slim,” she said. “The stockpiles are dwindling. We expect a shipment next week. I think we can hold it together until then.”

MORE: Keeping up with coronavirus in N.J.: First, don’t panic. Our newsletter might help.

Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @TedSherman.reporter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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