• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Towleroad Gay News

Gay Blog Towleroad: More than gay news | gay men

  • Travel
  • Sports
  • Law/Justice
  • Celebrities
  • Republicans
  • Madonna
  • Books
  • Men
  • Trans Rights
  • Royals
  • Monkeypox
  • Sophia Bush’s girlfriend ‘proud’ the actress has opened up about coming out as queer
  • Mel B declares she’ll ‘always be open’ when it comes to her sexuality!
  • Megan Thee Stallion being sued for ‘forcing cameraman watch her having lesbian sex!’

Some U.S. hospitals forced to ration care amid staffing shortages, COVID-19 surge

Towleroad September 18, 2021 Leave a Comment

Published by
Reuters

By Julia Harte and Sharon Bernstein

(Reuters) – Surges in coronavirus cases in several U.S. states this week, along with staffing and equipment shortages, are exacting a mounting toll on hospitals and their workers even as the number of new admissions nationwide ebbs, leading to warnings at some facilities that care would be rationed.

Montana, Alaska, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Kentucky experienced the biggest rises in new COVID-19 hospitalizations during the week ending Sept. 10 compared with the previous week, with Montana's new hospitalizations rising by 26%, according to the latest report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Sept. 14.

In Alaska, the influx is so heavy that the state's largest hospital is no longer able to provide life-saving care to every patient who needs it due to the influx of COVID-19 hospitalizations, according to an open letter from the medical executive committee of Providence Alaska Medical Center this week.

“If you or your loved one need specialty care at Providence, such as a cardiologist, trauma surgeon, or a neurosurgeon, we sadly may not have room now,” the letter read. “There are no more staffed beds left.”

Some hospital workers have become so overwhelmed by the fresh wave of COVID-19 cases — a year and half after the pandemic first reached the United States — that they have left for jobs at retailing and other non-medical fields, Nancy Foster, vice president of quality and patient safety the American Hospital Association, told Reuters.

At the same time, distribution and other issues are leaving some hospitals short of oxygen supplies desperately needed to help patients struggling to breathe, Foster said.

On Friday, the hospital association held a webinar for its members on how to conserve oxygen, an effort to address a 200% jump in demand at many hospitals, she said.

“There is a shortage of drivers with the qualifications to transport oxygen, and a shortage of the tanks needed to transport it,” Foster added.

While there are some breakthrough cases among the vaccinated, Foster said most of the hospitalizations were among the unvaccinated.

A SURGE ‘LIKE NEVER BEFORE'

On Sept. 16, 1,855 Americans died of COVID-19 and 144,844 new cases were reported, according to a Reuters analysis of state and county data. Both trendlines have been increasing in the United States overall since hitting their lows this summer in July and June, respectively.

New hospital admissions are still surging in several mostly rural and Midwestern states, even as the number of COVID-19 patients admitted to hospitals daily in the entire United States slipped to about 10,685 on Sept. 14 after cresting around 13,028 in late August, according to the latest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

“Despite our hospital being ground zero in Kentucky for the onset of the pandemic 18 months ago, this week we are being hit with a COVID surge like never before since the onset of the pandemic,” said Dr. Stephen Toadvine, chief executive officer at Harrison Memorial Hospital, in a statement posted on the Kentucky state website. He added that patients seeking emergency care in Kentucky hospitals and being treated for COVID-19 are at an all-time highs.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said on Thursday that the commonwealth would soon run out of a key treatment for COVID-19 – the use of monoclonal antibodies – and the federal government also recently announced a national shortage.

Since May, the number of COVID-19 cases at hospitals run by the University of Wisconsin's UW Health system has quadrupled, Dr. Jeff Pothof said in an interview.

Emergency rooms are so full that doctors are having to seek rooms for their patients in other facilities, he said, a trend seen in other states, including Florida.

“For the first time in my career we're at the point where not every patient in need will get the care we might wish we could give,” Dr Shelly Harkins, chief medical officer and president of St. Peter's Health in Helena, Montana said in a video announcement Thursday.

In West Virginia, COVID-19 hospitalizations this week have far outstripped their previous peak of 815, rising from 852 on Monday to 922 on Friday, said Jim Kaufman, the president and CEO of the West Virginia Hospital Association.

The state's hospitals are also facing severe staffing shortages, resulting in fewer patients treated and delays in non-emergency care.

Smaller hospitals are sending patients to larger ones that can accommodate them, Kaufman said. In Oklahoma, new hospitalizations declined by 11% during the week ending Sept. 10 compared with the previous week, but 35% of hospitals in the state report staffing shortages, according to the CDC.

(Reporting by Julia Harte in New York, Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento, Calif., Maria Caspani in New York and Deena Beasley in Los Angeles. Additional reporting by Barbara Goldberg in New Jersey and Anurag Maan in Bengaluru; Editing by Aurora Ellis)

Topics: Aaon More Posts About: Covid-19

Related Posts
  • U.S. transport chief Buttigieg tests positive for COVID-19
  • US doctors reflect on exhaustion, trauma of one million Covid deaths
  • Omicron Variant BA2: Covid Returns — Is Omicron BA2 Another Wave in U.S.? Do Antibodies All The Earlier Protect Against COVID Variant BA2? And More…
  • Mel B declares she’ll ‘always be open’ when it comes to her sexuality!

    Mel B declares she’ll ‘always be open’ when it comes to her sexuality!

    Published by BANG Showbiz English Mel B will “always be open” when it comes to her sexuality. The Spice Girls singer, 48, who reunited with her bandmates including the group's ex-singer Victoria Beckham for the fashion …Read More »
  • Megan Thee Stallion being sued for ‘forcing cameraman watch her having lesbian sex!’

    Megan Thee Stallion being sued for ‘forcing cameraman watch her having lesbian sex!’

    Published by BANG Showbiz English Megan Thee Stallion is being sued for allegedly creating a hostile work environment and forcing her cameraman to watch her having lesbian sex. The 29-year-old ‘Savage' rapper faces the salacious claims …Read More »
  • Mean Girls star Jonathan Bennett recalls the moment his life ‘changed forever’

    Mean Girls star Jonathan Bennett recalls the moment his life ‘changed forever’

    Published by BANG Showbiz English Jonathan Bennett's life was “changed forever” by his role in ‘Mean Girls'. The 42-year-old actor starred as heartthrob Aaron Samuels in the 2004 cult classic – which followed Lindsay Lohan, Rachel …Read More »
  • Sir Elton John sent Lance Bass gift basket to celebrate coming out

    Sir Elton John sent Lance Bass gift basket to celebrate coming out

    Published by BANG Showbiz English Sir Elton John sent Lance Bass a gift basket after he came out as gay. The 44-year-old NSYNC star revealed the legendary singer showed his support when Lance decided to reveal …Read More »
Previous Post: « Robert Durst convicted of murder in L.A. Multimillionaire Real estate heir Was Subject of HBO’s “The Jinx”
Next Post: North Carolina Voter Suppression Law Struck as Racist. Republican Voter ID Found to ‘Target African American Voters’ »

Primary Sidebar

Most Recent

  • Sophia Bush’s girlfriend ‘proud’ the actress has opened up about coming out as queer

    Sophia Bush’s girlfriend ‘proud’ the actress has opened up about coming out as queer

  • Mel B declares she’ll ‘always be open’ when it comes to her sexuality!

    Mel B declares she’ll ‘always be open’ when it comes to her sexuality!

  • Megan Thee Stallion being sued for ‘forcing cameraman watch her having lesbian sex!’

    Megan Thee Stallion being sued for ‘forcing cameraman watch her having lesbian sex!’

  • Mean Girls star Jonathan Bennett recalls the moment his life ‘changed forever’

    Mean Girls star Jonathan Bennett recalls the moment his life ‘changed forever’

  • Sir Elton John sent Lance Bass gift basket to celebrate coming out

    Sir Elton John sent Lance Bass gift basket to celebrate coming out

  • Relationship status influences heterosexual women’s sexual prejudice towards lesbians

    Relationship status influences heterosexual women’s sexual prejudice towards lesbians

  • JoJo Siwa had a challenge transitioning to new grown-up image

    JoJo Siwa had a challenge transitioning to new grown-up image

  • Liz Hurley defends lesbian sex scene in new movie that was directed by her son

    Liz Hurley defends lesbian sex scene in new movie that was directed by her son

Partner Links

  • Honest Trailer: Mission Impossible
    Open thread below... read more
  • 'I Feel Great': Fox News Anti-Biden Panel Derailed By Dem's Cancer Reveal
    Democratic strategist Lucy Caldwell undermined a Fox News panel criticizing former […]
  • Ukraine President Bashes Trump After Russian Attack: 'Silence Of America'
    Last night Russia unleashed a severe drone and missile attack on […]
  • Monday News Round-Up: Ian McKellen; Jussie Smollett; Sarah McBride; Lauren Scruggs & more!
    Birthday boy Ian McKellen wows audience with a surprise performance at […]
  • WATCH: Cynthia Nixon guests on co-star Kristin Davis’ “Are You A Charlotte?” podcast
    Cynthia Nixon joins Kristin Davis last week for a conversation filled […]

Most Commented

Social

Twitter @tlrd | Facebook | Instagram @tlrd

About

  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy
[towleroadmr] [towleroadtn]

Footer

Ptown Hacks 2018

Read

  • Travel
  • Film
  • Law – LGBT Rights
  • Columns
  • Specials

About

  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 · Log in

×
×