New Cases of COVID-19 and Hospital Capacity: What Will Happen This Year?
As of March 2022, we are in the third year since COVID-19 started. I cannot believe it has already been this long. Life has drastically changed for many people, especially those that work in healthcare. I am sure if you have visited a hospital since the beginning of the pandemic, you have noticed a difference.
A big difference.
The stress that COVID-19 has put on hospitals has been no secret, yet patients and their families continue to be shocked by the not-so-good change in hospitals.
Whether it’s long emergency room wait times, being stuck in a hallway bed for days at a time, cold food trays, or having to wait an hour for someone to answer your call bell, these changes are, in majority, a result of COVID-19. At least they are in the city I work in. And in no way am I saying that these changes are okay. It is unfortunately the reality that we are all facing.
So that begs the question: what will happen this year?
I found myself asking this question a lot this summer. Maybe not to others but definitely to myself. The last two winters were….a lot.
2020 was nerve wracking, as this was the first year working with this virus. We had no vaccine and limited knowledge of the virus. The majority of patients affected were in the elderly population. We felt powerless against this virus that was taking the lives of so many people right in front of our eyes.
2021 was a different story. Personally, I went into that winter thinking that it was going to be different. I mean, we had a vaccine this time.
Boy, was I wrong.
As of December 2021, it was reported that only 60% of Americans were vaccinated against COVID-19.¹
That year, I saw the virus take the lives of many people in their 40s, 50s, and 60s. Many of these people did not have any pre-existing medical conditions. But they had one similarity: they did not get vaccinated. But the vaccine is a topic for another day.
During the winter of 2021, we were still recovering from the residual effects of COVID-19 in 2020. Staffing shortages were real and severe. And quite honestly, they still are.
Healthcare workers were (and still are) burnt out from the mental and physical toll that COVID-19 took on their bodies. This led to a mass exodus in the healthcare industry. Hospitals remained over capacity even after the COVID-19 numbers decreased.
2021 was mentally exhausting, and I would even say…traumatizing. Personally, I have had a lot of anxiety surrounding this upcoming winter, and I am sure I am not the only healthcare worker feeling this way.
As I talked about in my other article, the rate of viral infections increases in the winter months. So if you end up in a hospital this winter, you are probably wondering what you can expect.
Will hospitals be over capacity this year?
Unfortunately, this is difficult to predict as we are only in year three since COVID-19 started. But given what we know about viruses and how they thrive in the winter months, it is safe to say that we will again see a rise in COVID-19 numbers this winter. Until more people become vaccinated (I know, a topic for another day), these “COVID surges” will likely become a regular occurrence in the winter.
So what can you expect as a patient going to a hospital this winter?
Well, for starters, it’s going to be busy. Probably very busy. On top of increased COVID-19 cases, hospitals will continue to see the increased cases of COPD, heart failure, pneumonia, and even the flu. And hospitals only have so many beds and so many staff members.
So if you do get admitted to the hospital, expect to wait at least a day or so for a room upstairs. Typically during the winter months, patients are coming into the hospital faster than they are leaving. This means that rooms are not available as quickly, and patients can sometimes spend their entire hospital stay in a bed in the emergency department.
I know, this is not ideal. But unfortunately, this is what I have seen during the last two winters.
Why are hospitals over capacity since COVID-19?
Here’s why (at least in the city I work in):
During that time, patients started to become stuck in hospitals waiting for a bed to become available at a rehab facility, nursing home, or assisted living facility. The wait times were abnormally high because many of these facilities had to close as a result of COVID-19.
In the hospital I work in, the patients waiting for a bed at a facility made up roughly 30% of our patient population.
When COVID-19 cases started to increase and patients came to the hospital, patients would find themselves stuck in the emergency room for days waiting for a bed because there was simply no room.
The lack of bed availability started when the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020.
And while these numbers have improved, hospitals continue their attempts to recover from winter 2020.
Remember: Healthcare workers are human too
So if you find yourself waiting in the emergency room, stuck in a hallway bed, or waiting for that call bell to be answered, please remember that we are truly doing our best.
We are doing our best to treat patients with limited staffing and resources while hospitals continue to be over capacity.
If you are a family member that is waiting for a call from a provider or other healthcare worker, please know that we are doing the best that we can. Our workload has easily doubled if not tripled since 2020, and there are still only 24 hours in a day.
Please be patient and kind. Hospital workers are going on their third year of COVID-19, and those that are still standing are exhausted.
We are doing the best that we can.
Make sure to check out my blog, Medicine Made Simple, to get up-to-date, fact based information about health and wellness.
Stay informed, stay healthy.
Works Cited:
1. Schneider, Eric, et al. “Home | Commonwealth Fund.” www.commonwealthfund.org, 14 Dec. 2021, www.commonwealthfund.org. Accessed 14 Sept. 2022.
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