Camden County health officials say that they are preparing hospitals as cases of COVID-19 surge.

“I know that most of you at home are doing everything you can to stop this disease, but we need to double-down,” says Camden County Freeholder Jonathan Young.

As COVID-19 cases rise in the county, Young is asking residents to stay vigilant.

“If you go back a month or so ago, we were right around 18-20 and now we’re getting up to that 50-60 [cases] a day. So, it’s really starting to spike for us,” Young says.

Dr. Reginald Blaber from Virtua Health says that the spike in the virus is evident in the health system’s five hospitals.

“The number of patients with COVID has tripled in the past couple of weeks,” Blaber says.

That number is still a fraction of what the health system saw in the spring, according to Blaber. He says that what they learned during that time they have implemented now.

"We have created two hospitals within each of our hospitals, a COVID hospital and a non-COVID hospital and we really do that because we recognize that folks who don't have COVID don't want to be exposed to the virus,” Blaber says. “We want to make our hospitals and our physicians’ offices as safe as possible. So, if you end up in the ICU with a heart attack, you're not going to be exposed to a patient with COVID."

Camden County officials also say that they are stocking up on PPE.

“We’re still buying and still buying – just getting ready for the next wave and preparing for whatever else might come,” Young says.

Officials are asking families to avoid large indoor gatherings for Thanksgiving because of the surge in coronavirus cases.