Emergency rooms like the Cambridge Health Alliance hospital in Everett facing are a surge in patients as they battle the latest COVID wave.
Monday: That ERs are close to a breaking point, as COVID cases rise and people seek medical care they postponed over the holidays.
One issue contributing to the logjam: Many people are flocking to ERs for routine flu or COVID tests after struggling to find appointments elsewhere. Lai-Becker estimates roughly 40% of patients who show up to her emergency room want a test, but aren't sick enough to need emergency care. Dr. Eric Dickson, chief executive at UMass Memorial Health and board chair for the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association, confirmed that other ERs are also seeing a flood of patients because of the latest COVID surge.
Dickson says the latest surge comes a time when emergency rooms have been backed up for months. That's largely because of staffing shortages. Many health professionals left their jobs during the pandemic. And others have temporarily had to quarantine after becoming infected with COVID.Dickson worries the situation at emergency rooms could become even worse in coming weeks because of the emergence of the omicron variant.
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