Coronavirus (COVID-19) Information

COVID-19 Testing:

Mountainside Immedicenter is offering drive-up COVID-19 testing.  Visit www.immedicenter.com for office locations and hours of operation.  

Requesting a Vaccine Appointment

Visit www.mountainsidehosp.com/covid19vaccine for updates and more information.

Vaccine and Treatments

Vaccine FAQ

Drug Therapies

Pfizer-BioNTech EUAs/Comirnaty Approval Vaccine Information

Moderna Vaccine Information

Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) Vaccine Information

PAUSED

Vaccine Availability

Vaccine Record & Test Results

Sign in to MyChart for quick access to your COVID-19 vaccine record and test results.

Now Vaccinating Mountainside Team Members and Medical Staff

Mountainside Medical Center began administering COVID-19 vaccination to team members and medical staff on December 17, 2020.   The hospital will be vaccinating front line team members and providers such as emergency, intensive care, medical/surgical staff as the highest priority recipients of the COVID-19 vaccine. This process will continue over weeks as shipments of the vaccine are received.

Post COVID-19 Rehab

Mountainside Medical Center will begin a new Post-COVID exercise program individually designed for those who have had COVID-19 to improve their strength, flexibility, endurance and activities of daily living. The goal of the program is to improve quality of life and promote positive lifestyle changes through education and exercise.

This program is medically supervised by the Mountainside Cardiac Rehabilitation and includes two 1-hour sessions per week for four to eight weeks at the Mountainside Medical Center Cardiac Rehabilitation Fitness Center.

COVID-19 can have long lasting effects particularly on the cardiopulmonary system. Lifestyle modification and a guided exercise program can be beneficial to speeding the recovery process," says Kevin McCoach, M.D., medical director of Cardiac Rehabilitation at Mountainside Medical Center.

What are the requirements to participate?

  • Individuals must not have any Acute COVID-19 symptoms.
  • Medical clearance from their physician

This program is not covered by Medical Insurance. The program cost is $88 per month.

For more information about the Post-COVID exercise program, or to see if you qualify please call 973-429-6199 or e-mail Diane.depadova@mountainsidehosp.com.

Visitor Policy

The situation surrounding COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) continues to evolve and changes occur rapidly. Visit our Visitation page for the most current updates.

Surgeries and Procedures

Mountainside Medical Center continues to perform elective surgeries and procedures in accordance with NJDOH requirements.  Learn how we are keeping you and our team members safe by visiting mountainsidehosp.com/MountainsideSafe

If You Have a Loved One in the ICU

If you have a loved one in the ICU, we kindly request that you contact us for status updates and questions after 12 noon to allow our team members to provide your loved one with safe and excellent care.

Community Events

Mountainside Medical Center is hosting all seminars and classes virtually. This decision was made in accordance with guidance set forth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to at-risk populations to avoid mass gatherings.

Additionally, Mountainside Medical Center will be unable to accommodate community use of our meeting and conference spaces until further notice.

Testing Centers

Mountainside has established an offsite testing facility in close proximity to the hospital. For more information please visit https://mountainsidehosp.com/covid19testing.

Only those experiencing symptoms, such as respiratory symptoms or a high fever, should go to the emergency department.

Essex County residents meeting testing criteria have access to receive free testing. Please visit https://essexcovid.org/ for more information.

If you have a medical emergency, call 911 and tell the dispatcher about your symptoms and recent travel history.

Unless it is an emergency, stay home if you feel sick, even if your symptoms are mild. To reduce your risk of catching or spreading illness, do not go to work, school or public places, and avoid public transportation if possible.

If you feel like you need medical care, you are encouraged to call before you go to a doctor’s office or urgent care center and describe your symptoms over the phone. If symptoms are severe, you can also call 911.

Follow Your Health Care Provider’s Instructions

Based on your answers to these questions, the care provider will provide instructions over the phone. You will be told if you need to be evaluated. Based on your risk for COVID-19, your health care provider may recommend that you:

  • Continue to monitor your health and call back if you develop a fever or respiratory symptoms.
  • Stay home and await further instructions.
  • Report to a medical care facility for evaluation. If possible, it’s best to go alone to your appointment. Do not bring children or other family members unless you require assistance.
  • Go to a clinic or emergency department, or call 911, if you have more severe symptoms, such as higher fever and severe shortness of breath.

Practice Hand Hygiene and Respiratory Etiquette

  • If you go to a care facility and you have COVID-19 symptoms, or have traveled to designated areas, you will be asked to wear a mask upon arrival. Masks are NOT recommended for healthy people in the general population.
  • Wash your hands thoroughly and frequently for at least 20 seconds with soap and hot water. Be mindful to wash your hands after sneezing, blowing your nose, coughing or using the bathroom, and before preparing or eating food.
  • If you cough or sneeze, do so into the bend of your elbow, not your hand, or use a tissue, and then immediately throw it away.
  • At home and work, clean often-touched surfaces such as doors and doorknobs, cabinet handles, bathroom hardware, tabletops, phones, tablets and keyboards regularly with disinfectant.

Stay Calm

The possibility of having a contagious illness is concerning but doctors, nurses and other caregivers are working together with national and international agencies to identify and provide care to patients while avoiding spread of the illness in the community.

Symptoms

  • Fever, cough, chills, repeated shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throate, new loss of taste or smell
  • Can be mild or severe; fatal in rare cases
  • Can result in pneumonia

Transmission

  • COVID-19 may be spread by an infected person for several days before their symptoms appear, but we don’t know definitely.
  • COVID-19 might be spread through the airborne route, meaning that tiny droplets remaining in the air could cause disease in others, even after the ill person is no longer near.

Treatment

  • COVID-19 is not treatable with antibiotics, which only work on bacterial infections.
  • It may be treated by addressing symptoms, such as reducing fever. Severe cases may require hospitalization.

Prevention

COVID-19 may be prevented by frequent, thorough hand washing, coughing into a tissue or the crook of your elbow, staying home when sick and limiting contact with people who are infected.

Cause

COVID-19 is caused by one virus, the novel 2019 coronavirus is now called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, or SARS-CoV-2.

We are committed to treating every patient who needs medical care. Our expert, well-trained clinicians regularly care for patients with severe respiratory illnesses and other infectious diseases. Our providers and staff follow best practices, using recommended tools and techniques to protect themselves, including the use of personal protective equipment (PPE).

We are closely monitoring updates from the World Health Organization (WHO), the infection rate from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and other tracking tools.

We will rely on our emergency management plan and practices to care for suspected and confirmed cases of COVID-19.

For the protection of our patients, visitors, and non-employees, our plan includes screening patients and guests. Depending on the status of the spread of the disease in the community, we may limit the number of hospital entrances in order to stage for respiratory screenings. We may also choose to restrict visitors for the protection of our patients and staff. These decisions will be announced through signage and other notices.

We are also screening employees who have symptoms, have traveled by sea or air, or who have household members who have recently traveled internationally or domestically by sea or air.

We care for infected patients in isolated areas of the hospital. Access to these areas is limited to a small group of staff who only care for patients in that area. The materials used to care for infected patients are isolated and handled using the most current infection-control practices.

For the safety of all, our environmental care staff uses evidence-based disinfection procedures and products. We are confident patients entering our facility for inpatient or outpatient care are safe.

We understand the public’s high level of concern and are committed to protecting our patients’ privacy.

Coronaviruses are a type of virus. There are many different kinds and some cause disease. A newly identified type has caused a recent outbreak of respiratory illness now called COVID-19 that started in China.

Symptoms include cough, fever and shortness of breath. COVID-19 can be severe and some cases have caused death. This new coronavirus can be spread from person to person. It is diagnosed with a laboratory test.

There is no vaccine for coronavirus. Prevention involves frequent hand-washing with soap and water, coughing into a tissue (throw away immediately) or the bend of your elbow and staying home when you are sick.

Patient Guidelines

We are closely monitoring updates from the World Health Organization (WHO), the infection rate from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and New Jersey Department of Health. 

To help identify and treat patients while avoiding the spread of the disease, we are asking all patients to follow these guidelines when seeking care:

  • If you feel ill and it is an emergency, call 911. Describe your symptoms and provide any information you have about recent international travel or contact with someone known to have COVID-19.
  • If you feel ill and it is NOT an emergency, call your primary care or specialty care provider, or an urgent care center, and describe your symptoms over the phone before going to any of these locations. Be prepared to answer the following questions:
  • Do you have a fever, a cough or shortness of breath?
  • Have you had close contact with someone diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus? (Close contact means having been within 6 feet of that person for an extended time, or being exposed to their cough or sneeze.)
  • Have you been notified by a public health official that you have potentially been exposed to COVID-19?
  • For more severe symptoms, such as higher fever and severe shortness of breath, you may be advised to go to a clinic or the emergency department.
  • The day before any medical appointments, call the office. Be prepared to answer the above questions.
  • If possible, please go alone to any appointments. Do not bring children, family members or friends unless you need assistance. Especially, do not bring anyone who has a cough, a fever or shortness of breath or is considered medically vulnerable.

This page is updated regularly to reflect the latest recommendations and best practices.