Page 8 - HOH

A2 UP FRONT
Wednesday 9 February 2022

Hospitals begin to limp out of the latest COVID-19 surge

Continued from Front `When does this end?'" Even in North Dakota,
Another reason for anxiety: which has consistently
But the ebbing of the omi- COVID-19 hospitalizations ranked near the top in the
cron surge has left in its aren't even all that low. number of COVID-19 cases
wake postponed surger- They are at a level seen relative to the population,
ies, exhausted staff mem- in January 2021, amid last hospitals have seen a dra-
bers and uncertainty over winter's surge. matic drop in virus patients.
whether this is the last big Hospitals limped through However, executives at
wave or whether another the omicron surge with Dakotas-based Sanford
one lies ahead. workforces that already Health said their hospitals
"What we want to see is that were depleted after many are still full.
the omicron surge contin- staff members quit the "We've been running hard
ues to decrease, that we profession. The remaining for a couple years here
don't see another variant health care workers got now, but I am not sure
of concern emerge, that sick in droves. In some hos- that I sense relief," said Dr.
we start to come out of the pitals, office staff was as- Doug Griffin, a vice presi- A room is empty in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit at
other side of this," said Dr. signed to help make beds. dent and medical officer Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center sits empty, in Lebanon,
Chris Beyrer, an epidemi- Now, many hospitals are for Sanford in Fargo, North N.H., Monday, Jan. 3, 2022.
ologist at the Johns Hopkins still in crisis mode, as they Dakota. "Most of our car- Associated Press
Bloomberg School of Public work to reschedule people egivers are giving care to
Health. whose hip replacements other patients. We still have has fallen to 280, down from to a month ago, it's a com-
But he added: "We've and even cancer and some very, very sick peo- an all-time pandemic high plete sea change, which is
been proven wrong twice brain surgeries were put off ple coming in for all sorts of of around 1,200. Surgeries great," he said.
already, with delta and during the omicron crisis reasons." began to be delayed at Mary Turner, who is presi-
omicron. So that adds to to free up bed space and At the Cleveland Clinic's 13 the end of December, and dent of the Minnesota
people's anxiety and un- nurses to care for COVID-19 Ohio hospitals, the number the situation is just now re- Nurses Association and
certainty and sense of like patients. of patients with COVID-19 turning to normal, said Dr. works as a COVID-19 ICU
Raed Dweik, head of the nurse, said patient numbers
system's respiratory insti- remain high because "of
tute. all the other people who
The hope, he said, is that didn't go to their appoint-
this is the last big surge and ments or their follow-ups
that the hospitals can be- who are coming in with all
gin to catch up. the other conditions."
"We've had our hopes If there is any relief, Turner
dashed before that. 'Oh, said, it's being able to walk
this is the end of the pan- into a patient's room with-
demic and this virus,'" he out having to wear full pro-
said. tective gear.
"Every time we we say "It's like heaven" to walk
something like this, it's kind in and just don a pair of
of laughed at us, and it gloves, she said.
comes back with a new At the eight-hospital Beau-
variant." mont Health system in
Dr. Craig Spencer, a New Michigan, the number of
York City emergency room COVID-19 patients fell to
physician, tweeted a week 250 on Tuesday, down from
ago: "Just worked 12 hours last month's omicron peak
in the ER on a busy Monday of 851.
and didn't have a single Dr. Justin Skrzynski, an in-
Covid patient. Not one. This ternal medicine physician
ain't over. But it's a helluva who runs a COVID-19 floor
lot better than even just a at Beaumont Health's hos-
few weeks ago." pital in Royal Oak, said
Spencer said Tuesday that patient care is about 90%
he had another COVID- back to normal and he
free shift during the over- finds reason for optimism,
night hours Friday and Sat- noting that the combi-
urday. nation of vaccinations
"I am getting a some- and immunity from infec-
what random sample, of tions should provide some
course, but just compared protection.q