Hospitals prepare for a new surge / THE TEXAS TRIBUNE
Although some Texas hospitals are better prepared than they were at the beginning of the pandemic for a surge of patients and hospitalizations, staff morale still stands on shaky ground. Hospitals are bracing not only for another surge in COVID-19 cases as the new omicron variant spreads, but also for a renewed burden on an already burned-out and depleted workforce.
“In terms of actual numbers it’s manageable, (but) that’s not the concern,” said Dr. Esmaeil Porsa, president and CEO of Harris Health System, a hospital system in Harris County. “The concern is the fact that the rate of increase is really ramping up. So there is a very good chance that by the end of this calendar year, at the beginning of (the) new year, we may be back in the middle of a huge COVID surge, and that is concerning.”
Early evidence suggests the omicron variant may be milder but spreads faster, compared to the delta variant. Medical experts expect that people who have been fully vaccinated and recently gotten a booster shot will still be much better protected from serious illness or death. Still, medical researchers are trying to determine how severe omicron-related infections are for unvaccinated individuals or even the less recently vaccinated.
Headed into the holidays, the question for many health officials is: Will there be enough health care staffers to balance hospital demand, especially as more patients not sick with COVID-19 have been coming in to receive delayed care?
“This has just been very taxing, and I think the staffing in the hospitals is going to continue to be challenging as new roles pop up that are outside the four walls of the hospitals,” said Joyce Batcheller, president-elect of the Texas Nurses Association. “They’re gonna be more appealing than constantly taking care of COVID patients and potentially also putting themselves at risk. So, we’re not going to be done with shortages that we’ve seen for quite a while.”