US Coronavirus: One dangerous way the Omicron surge is different than previous
“What we have to understand is that our health system is at a very different place than we were in previous surges,” professor of emergency medicine Dr. Esther Choo told CNN on Saturday. “We have extremely high numbers of just lost healthcare workers, we’ve lost at least 20% of our healthcare workforce, probably more.”
“This strain is so infectious,” Choo added, “that I think all of us know many, many colleagues who are currently infected or have symptoms and are under quarantine.”
“That’s a different type of one-two punch: people going into the hospitals … and all of the healthcare workers are out of the workforce,” he told CNN.
In Ohio, the mayor of Cincinnati declared a state of emergency due to staffing shortages in the city’s fire department following a rise in Covid-19 infections, saying in the declaration that if the problem goes unaddressed, it would “substantially undermine” first responders’ readiness levels.
“We’re seeing a surge in patients again, unprecedented in this pandemic,” Dr. James Phillips, chief of disaster medicine at George Washington University Hospital, warned on Saturday. “What’s coming for the rest of the country could be very serious and they need to be prepared.”
Vast majority of patients still the unvaccinated, expert says
And about 33.4% of those who are fully vaccinated have received their booster doses, the data shows.
“If you’re unvaccinated, that’s the group still at highest risk,” Dr. William Schaffner, a professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told CNN Saturday. “The adults that are being admitted to my institution, the vast majority continue to be unvaccinated.”
Dr. Catherine O’Neal, the chief medical officer at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, said their facility has seen hospital admissions and emergency department visits triple in the past week.
“What we’re seeing is that… our vaccinated patients aren’t getting sick and our frail, multiple co-morbidities vaccinated patients do need admission, but their admissions are shorter and they’re able to leave the hospital after several days,” O’Neal said. “Our unvaccinated patients are the sickest patients, they’re the patients most likely to be on the ventilator.”
The hospital is stretched so thin by…
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