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The extremely contagious variant of Omicron is fueling a huge wave of coronavirus that is pushing hospitals close to their capacity limits in a two dozen states, according to published data by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
At least the 80 percent of hospital beds were occupied in 24 state on Thursday, including Georgia, Maryland and Massachusetts, figures show.
Our hospitals are under extreme pressure. Fueled by the Omicron variant, current hospitalizations are over 700 and daily COVID-19 case counts are alarmingly high. To assist, I am deploying 700 additional @oregonguard members—for a total of more than 1,200—to Oregon hospitals.—Governor Kate Brown (@OregonGovBrown) January 12, 2022
More worryingly, the data reveals that in 18 states and Washington, DC, at least the 85 percent of beds in adult intensive care units were full, with the most acute shortage of beds in Alabama, Missouri, New Mexico, Rhode Island, and Texas.
The pressure on the capacity of intensive care units comes as the Omicron variant has caused an almost vertical increase in infections and hospitalizations.
The country as a whole and 26 states have reported more coronavirus cases in the past week than in any other seven-day period.
In that time, an average of more than 803,000 cases of coronavirus each day in the United States, one increase of 133 percent from two weeks ago, according to the New York database Times, and 12 states and territories have reported their highest weekly rate in number of cases.
Deaths increased by 49 percent to an average of about 1,871 per day.
That has helped propel the country’s average admissions rate above last winter’s peak.
Hospitalizations of people who tested positive for coronavirus during that week amount to more than 85,000 per day, which represents a record.
Numbers are rising fastest in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, according to the New York Times database.
The Hospitalization figures include people who test positive for the virus after being admitted for conditions unrelated to Covid-19, but there is no national data showing how many people fall into that category.
Since Thanksgiving, the White House has sent more than 350 doctors , nurses, doctors and other military personnel to 24 states to help hospitals with staffing challenges, President Biden said this week, and plans to send 1,000 additional service members to six hard-hit areas.
That adds up to the more than , members of the National Guard deployed to 49 states to help staff at hospitals and other medical facilities, Biden and other officials said.
On Wednesday, Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota said the state would spend $26 million in federal funds to hire more staff to help hospitals over the next 60 days, because “we know we are going to continue to see a sharp increase in cases of the Omicron variant.”
Minnesota hospitals have been struggling to keep up since the fall, when the National Guard was called in to
Also on Wednesday, Governor Kate Brown of Oregon said she would send 700 additional National Guard members from the state, bringing the total deployed to 1200 members, to help hospitals deal with the surge in coronavirus patients.
“Our hospitals are under extreme pressure” , he wrote on Twitter.
A day earlier, Governor Janet Mills of Maine said she was activating 169 National Guard members to help with capacity constraints at hospitals, joining the more than 200 members deployed in the state. “I wish we didn’t have to take this step,” Mills said, “but rising hospitalizations, caused primarily by those who are unvaccinated, are reducing the capacity of the health care system, putting Maine’s care at risk. and putting further pressure on our already exhausted healthcare workers.”
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