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Source: https://www.masslive.com/coronaviru...staffing-shortages-compounding-challenge.html
COVID surge: Massachusetts hospital capacity ‘stretched more than it has ever been’ with patient surge and staffing shortages compounding challenge
Updated: Dec. 16, 2021, 11:49 a.m. | Published: Dec. 16, 2021, 11:49 a.m.
By Alison Kuznitz |
The commonwealth’s health care system is buckling under the strain of the Delta COVID-19 variant — with a drove of patients exacerbated by severe staffing shortages across the state, Steve Walsh, the president and CEO of the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association said Thursday morning.
During a COVID-19 oversight hearing, Walsh testified to state lawmakers that hospitals are “still under tremendous pressure.” Walsh called the recent rise in hospitalizations “terrifying,” saying the post-Thanksgiving tallies are steeper than expected.
If those increases persist into the new year, Walsh warned “we’re going to have increasing problems.”
“Some of these pressures are as bad as they have ever been — even at the height of the first surge,” Walsh told the Joint Committee on COVID-19 and Emergency Preparedness and Management. “Hospital capacity is stretched more than it has ever been ... Capacity is a challenge every single day.”
Gov. Charlie Baker has ordered hospitals to limit elective procedures, such as knee and hip replacements, to preserve bed capacity...
COVID surge: Massachusetts hospital capacity ‘stretched more than it has ever been’ with patient surge and staffing shortages compounding challenge
Updated: Dec. 16, 2021, 11:49 a.m. | Published: Dec. 16, 2021, 11:49 a.m.
By Alison Kuznitz |
The commonwealth’s health care system is buckling under the strain of the Delta COVID-19 variant — with a drove of patients exacerbated by severe staffing shortages across the state, Steve Walsh, the president and CEO of the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association said Thursday morning.
During a COVID-19 oversight hearing, Walsh testified to state lawmakers that hospitals are “still under tremendous pressure.” Walsh called the recent rise in hospitalizations “terrifying,” saying the post-Thanksgiving tallies are steeper than expected.
If those increases persist into the new year, Walsh warned “we’re going to have increasing problems.”
“Some of these pressures are as bad as they have ever been — even at the height of the first surge,” Walsh told the Joint Committee on COVID-19 and Emergency Preparedness and Management. “Hospital capacity is stretched more than it has ever been ... Capacity is a challenge every single day.”
Gov. Charlie Baker has ordered hospitals to limit elective procedures, such as knee and hip replacements, to preserve bed capacity...
