As Covid-19 hospitalizations reach new highs, more states and health care systems are cutting back services that aren't urgent and relying on National Guard personnel to fill staffing gaps as infected health care employees miss work to recover and patient demand grows.
While officials have started to call out very early signs that the Omicron coronavirus wave is peaking -- or at least plateauing -- in parts of the Northeast, experts say it will be weeks before any change can be declared a trend. Until then, the surge has put frontline workers in the medical industry and others at higher risk.
More than 155,900 people in the US are hospitalized with Covid-19, according to data Thursday from the US Department of Health and Human Services, surpassing records set in last winter's surge. And hospitals need more people to help provide care.
Meantime, deaths nationally have lagged from the worst of last winter's surge, as the country has averaged 1,817 Covid-19 deaths a day over the past week, Johns Hopkins University data shows. The peak daily average was 3,402 one year ago on January 13, 2021.
In Washington state, hospitals will temporarily halt nonurgent procedures "so as much capacity and staff can be dedicated to emergent needs -- the people who need this right now," Gov. Jay Inslee said Thursday.
In Wisconsin, National Guard members will be trained as certified nursing assistants to support hospitals and nursing homes, Gov. Tony Evers said.
"We're estimating the first round of staffing and relief rollout will allow skilled nursing facilities to open up 200 or more beds by the end of February," Evers said Thursday as the state announced a record number of confirmed cases.
"Our health care providers are beyond exhausted. We simply do not have enough staff to care for all those who are ill," said Lisa Greenwood, the associate dean of nursing at Madison College, which is training the Guard members.
Nineteen states reported less than 15% remaining capacity in their intensive care units, according to HHS data Thursday: Alabama, Arizona, Delaware, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas and Vermont.
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aldwell, CNN - Yesterday 9:01 PM
