Coronavirus USA: Almost a quarter of hospitals report a critical staff shortage as Omicron drives an increase in Covid-19 cases

“In view of the many infections, our hospitals are really on the sidelines right now,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health, told CNN on Sunday.

Of the roughly 5,000 hospitals that reported this data to HHS on Saturday, nearly 1,200 – about 1 in 4 – said they are currently facing a critical staff shortage, the largest proportion of the entire pandemic. More than 100 other hospitals said they expected a shortage within the next week.

The U.S. healthcare system was Jha’s greatest concern, he said, noting that Omicron’s surge could affect its ability to care for patients suffering from conditions other than Covid-19.

“The health system is designed not only to take care of people with Covid, but also children with appendicitis and people with heart attacks and car accidents,” he said.

“And all of this is going to be much, much more difficult because we have a large section of the population that is not vaccinated, a lot of high-risk patients who are not vaccinated,” he said. “That combination creates a large pool of people who, if infected, will really strain the resources we have in hospitals today.”

This staff shortage is escalating as frontline healthcare workers are either infected or quarantined from exposure to Covid-19 while demand for treatments explodes: More than 138,000 Covid-19 patients were in U.S. on Saturday Hospitals Ministry of Health and Social Affairs. That’s not far from the all-time high (around 142,200 in mid-January 2021) and an increase of around 45,000 in early November. In order to maintain hospital capacity, some facilities are being forced to cut elective surgeries. In New York, for example, 40 hospitals – mainly in the Mohawk Valley, Finger Lakes, and central regions – have been ordered to suspend non-essential elective surgery for at least two weeks because of low patient bed capacity, the state health department said on Saturday.

The University of Kansas health system is also on the verge of implementing crisis standards for care, said Chief Medical Officer Dr. Steven Stites told CNN on Saturday: “At some point we are too overwhelmed to do our normal daily work. ”

“At this point we have to turn on a switch that says we have to find the people we can help the most,” he said, “and that means we have to let some people die who we might have let die help, but we weren’t sure – we’re too far away, or had too many injuries, or maybe we can’t handle this trauma that just came in. “

Stites said two waves would hit Kansas at the same time – with Delta accelerating after Thanksgiving to be hit by Omicron – describing it as “almost a double pandemic”. The vast majority of hospital admissions are unvaccinated, Stites said.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately 62.5% of the total US population is fully vaccinated. About 36% of them received a booster vaccination, the data shows.

Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University, told CNN on Saturday that the next few weeks “will look bad in many American cities.”

“Forty hospitals in New York have just canceled voting. The DC Hospital Association I work for has asked the DC government for permission for hospitals to introduce crisis standards for care, ”he said. “And that comes to every city in the United States.”

Los Angeles has a record weekly number of cases

According to a CNN analysis of data from Johns Hopkins University, 39 states nationwide reported a 50% or more increase in cases in the past week compared to the previous week. As of Saturday, the seven-day average of new daily cases in the US was 701,199, according to JHU data.

Some places are now seeing most of the new cases they have seen throughout the pandemic, including Los Angeles County.

On Saturday, the county reported more than 200,000 confirmed cases in the past seven days – the highest number of cases in a week since the pandemic began, according to a Los Angeles Department of Health press release. Hospital stays doubled to 3,200 over the week and there have been 135 Covid-related deaths, the department said.In light of the rise in infections, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced a proposed 2.7 billion Covid-19 emergency package on Saturday. Newsom also signed an executive order on Saturday that “stipulates consumer protection against price gouging in home test kits.” Office.

The surge in infections is also hitting the children of Los Angeles hard.

At Los Angeles Children’s Hospital, the positivity rate for children tested for Covid-19 has increased from 17.5% in December to 45% to date in January, according to CHLA Medical Director Dr. Michael Smit.

CHLA currently has 41 patients in the house who tested positive for Covid-19 and about a quarter of the children admitted to the facility with Covid-19 will need to be admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit, with some requiring intubation, said Smit across from CNN on Saturday.

The surge in cases comes just like Los Angeles Students are preparing to return to face-to-face classes on Tuesday.

Los Angeles’ Unified School District, the second largest school district in the country, requires all students and staff to present a negative Covid-19 test result before returning to the classroom.

The basic test requirement was introduced at the beginning of the school year in August, and the district announced a week ago that both the basic test and required weekly tests for all staff and students would continue through January, given the current surge in Omicron.

Shannon Haber, LAUSD’s chief communications officer, told CNN on Saturday that similar protocols in the fall, along with vaccination requirements, universal masking, and “Ghostbusters-level” hygiene practices have allowed each of the 1,000+ schools to stay open this academic year for personal learning.

Haber said 100% of LAUSD staff are fully vaccinated and students 12 and older must be fully vaccinated by the start of the next school year, with 90% meeting that requirement so far.

Disputes over personal learning

In the week ended December 30, children accounted for 17.7% of newly reported cases in the United States, the American Academy of Pediatrics said, finding a record 325,000 new cases in children – a 64% increase from the previous week.

In response to the rise in pediatric infections, disputes are playing out across various school districts this week over whether in-person learning is ideal during the Omicron surge and how students can go to school safely.

The Chicago Public Schools (CPS) system has canceled classes since Wednesday due to a dispute between city officials and the teachers’ union over return to the classroom.

The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) had voted in favor of distance learning due to the surge in Covid-19, but the school district canceled classes and said it wanted face-to-face learning.

CTU tabled a new proposal to Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Saturday that the union said would clarify a return to the classroom, establish improved safety and testing protocols, and resume the educational process for students.

CPS rejected the proposal, saying it looks forward to “further negotiations to reach an agreement”.

The school district agreed to CTU’s request to provide KN95 masks to all staff and students for the remainder of the school year and said they will continue to offer weekly Covid-19 tests to all students and staff.

In Georgia, public school teachers who test positive for Covid-19 no longer need to isolate themselves before returning to school, and school contact tracing is no longer required, as learned from one Thursday by Governor Brian Kemp and the public health letter to school principals stating Commissioner Kathleen Toomey.

The Georgia Department of Health released an updated administrative ordinance on Wednesday that allows teachers and school staff – regardless of vaccination status – to return to work after exposure to Covid-19 or a positive Covid-19 test if they remain asymptomatic and wear a mask wear while working.

Lisa Morgan, president of the Georgia Association of Educators, told CNN on Saturday that she thought the changes were “absolutely wrong at the absolutely worst time.”

“We know that there are increasing cases of our children being hospitalized with increasing frequency, and this action shows that the health and safety of educators, students and our families are not being considered,” said Morgan.

She said educators wanted to be in the classrooms with their students, but that should be achieved by keeping people healthy.

Removing the contact tracing requirement was frustrating, she said. “Now an educator does not know whether there is a positive case in his classroom. Parents do not know if there is a positive case in their child’s classrooms. As a result, educators and parents cannot make informed decisions about their child’s health and safety, “Morgan said.

Boston teacher shortage prompted Superintendent Brenda Cassellius to step in last week to teach a fourth grade. She told CNN on Saturday that the stress for the past two years has been difficult for both adults and children.

“It was especially challenging for our high school kids and middle school students who have experienced significant isolation and dysregulation due to mental health issues,” she said. For the future, said Cassellius, more test capacities are required in her district.

“We need to involve our teachers in these tests because currently vaccinated students and teachers are not included in these tests. We need some policy changes, especially during the boom, ”she said.

CNN’s Deidre McPhillips, Travis Caldwell, Keith Allen, Raja Razek, Natasha Chen and Anna-Maja Rappard contributed to this report.