As the omicron surge overwhelms emergency rooms, hospitals can't keep up

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As the omicron surge overwhelms emergency rooms, hospitals can't keep up

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In the U.S., more people are hospitalized for COVID-19 than at any other point in the pandemic. The omicron variant² has slammed ERs, but doctors say this surge feels different than earlier ones.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

The United States has hit a new pandemic record. There are now more people hospitalized with COVID-19 than at any other point in the pandemic. If you doubt this, visit an emergency room. NPR's Will Stone reports.

WILL STONE, BYLINE³: America's astronomical⁴ number of infections can feel abstract. But in emergency rooms, they are concrete - excruciating wait times, patients filling the waiting rooms, unable to get a bed.

GABE KELEN: This is about as bad as I can recall in my lifetime.

STONE: That's Dr. Gabe Kelen, chair of emergency medicine at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore.

KELEN: The emergency departments are, like, the one open venue⁵ for everybody, and we are being absolutely crushed.

STONE: They're putting patients outside in tents or keeping them in the hallways, wherever they can find space. Maryland is in especially bad shape, but it's a similar picture all over the country, including in Tucson, Ariz., where ER doctor Bradley Dreifuss works.

BRADLEY DREIFUSS: Literally⁶, there are patients in our emergency department who have been there for over 200 hours waiting for a placement.

STONE: That is, they're on a gurney in the hallway, waiting for an actual hospital bed. Problem is there are none.

DREIFUSS: Our hospitals are totally full. We're not able to admit patients. We don't even have admitting teams currently. We are not able to get patients where they need to be because our system is literally collapsing⁷.

STONE: Dreifuss is seeing the fallout firsthand - patients leaving the ER only to come back later even more sick.

In St. Louis, Dr. Alok Sengupta oversees⁸ the emergency rooms at Mercy Hospitals. He says one day last week, their busiest ER saw about a 50% jump in patients.

ALOK SENGUPTA: All of our emergency departments in our hospitals are really getting hit much harder this time around.

STONE: This is true for many ERs right now, and Sengupta says there are two primary reasons.

SENGUPTA: We have large volumes, but then we also have staff that are out. And they have to quarantine before they can come back to work.

STONE: Omicron is so infectious and moves so fast that the sheer volume of patients pouring into ERs is staggering. But Seattle ER doctor Gregg Miller⁹ says he's seeing some differences.

GREGG MILLER: ERs are as busy or busier than ever, but the overall group of patients that's coming in isn't quite as sick now as it used to be.

STONE: Miller is chief medical officer for Vituity, a company that has thousands of ER doctors around the country. In general, he says doctors are finding that the proportion of COVID patients who show up at the ER and need to be admitted is smaller than earlier in the pandemic. That's largely because people have immunity¹⁰ from vaccination¹¹ and prior infection and because of omicron itself. Studies in the U.S. and from overseas do show people have less severe illness compared to delta¹².

MILLER: And so you've got these two competing forces - increased infectiousness, decreased lethality¹³. Which one of those forces is going to win out? And unfortunately, what we're seeing right now is it's the increased infectiousness that's really winning out and driving hospital admissions.

STONE: In other words, the numbers are just too big, especially in places where vaccination rates are low. Dr Casey Clements is with the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.

CASEY CLEMENTS: The majority of the patients who have been in our ICU in the last several weeks are still unvaccinated.

STONE: And with their hospital as full as it ever has been, that keeps people stuck in the ER and backs up the entire hospital, disrupting care for all kinds of patients.

CLEMENTS: This omicron wave is really turning out to be much worse than previous waves, including delta.

STONE: And he worries this surge could be the most dangerous yet.

INSKEEP: NPR's Will Stone has been reporting there. And, Will, I want to follow up on that. This is less dangerous for any given individual, but some people get sick. So what kinds of people are ending up in the hospital?

STONE: Yeah, most of the vaccinated¹⁴ people who are sick enough to be admitted to the hospital, they often have several underlying¹⁵ risk factors, and COVID kind of tips them over the edge. Then there are still unvaccinated people coming in - some of them young, otherwise healthy, who are very sick. And then some people are coming into the ER for a different medical emergency. They just turn out to be positive. Actually, there are quite a few people who are showing up simply to get tested because they can't find a test anywhere else. And, of course, that's not how things are supposed to work.

INSKEEP: How does that affect hospital patients who do not have COVID?

STONE: Yeah. When hospitals are under duress¹⁶, everyone suffers. Surgeries are canceled. Patients who have emergencies can't find a bed. I spoke¹⁷ to Dr. Ruth Franks Snedecor, and this is what she's seeing in her big hospital in Phoenix¹⁸. And we should warn it's pretty graphic¹⁹.

RUTH FRANKS SNEDECOR: I couldn't believe that in a single week on service in a hospital, I had three patients that needed amputations. Their infections in their limbs had gone too long that they needed - one needed an above-the-knee amputation²⁰, and two of them needed below-the-knee amputations.

STONE: Snedecor said none of these patients had COVID, but they had either waited too long at home or they couldn't get the care they needed. And she says this would not be happening if the health care system wasn't so overwhelmed.

INSKEEP: Just a reminder²¹ that whatever choices we make and whatever chances we run into can affect other people. Will, thanks so much.

STONE: Thank you.

INSKEEP: NPR's Will Stone.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 variant   

adj.不同的，变异的；n.变体，异体

参考例句：

• We give professional suggestions according to variant tanning stages for each customer.我们针对每位顾客不同的日晒阶段，提供强度适合的晒黑建议。
• In a variant of this approach,the tests are data- driven.这个方法的一个变种，是数据驱动的测试。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 astronomical   

adj.天文学的，（数字）极大的

参考例句：

• He was an expert on ancient Chinese astronomical literature.他是研究中国古代天文学文献的专家。
• Houses in the village are selling for astronomical prices.乡村的房价正在飙升。

5 venue   

n.犯罪地点，审判地，管辖地，发生地点，集合地点

参考例句：

• The hall provided a venue for weddings and other functions.大厅给婚礼和其他社会活动提供了场所。
• The chosen venue caused great controversy among the people.人们就审判地点的问题产生了极大的争议。

6 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

7 collapsing   

压扁[平]，毁坏，断裂

参考例句：

• Rescuers used props to stop the roof of the tunnel collapsing. 救援人员用支柱防止隧道顶塌陷。
• The rocks were folded by collapsing into the center of the trough. 岩石由于坍陷进入凹槽的中心而发生褶皱。

8 oversees   

v.监督，监视( oversee的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• She oversees both the research and the manufacturing departments. 她既监督研究部门又监督生产部门。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Department of Education oversees the federal programs dealing with education. 教育部监管处理教育的联邦程序。 来自互联网

9 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

10 immunity   

n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权

参考例句：

• The law gives public schools immunity from taxation.法律免除公立学校的纳税义务。
• He claims diplomatic immunity to avoid being arrested.他要求外交豁免以便避免被捕。

11 vaccination   

n.接种疫苗，种痘

参考例句：

• Vaccination is a preventive against smallpox.种痘是预防天花的方法。
• Doctors suggest getting a tetanus vaccination every ten years.医生建议每十年注射一次破伤风疫苗。

12 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

13 lethality   

n.致命性，毁坏性

参考例句：

• Modern weapons have greater range, accuracy, speed, and lethality than anything ever dreamed of before. 现代的武器比从前所梦想的任何武器射得更远，射得更准，速度更快，而且更具有杀伤力。 来自辞典例句
• The Mk 46 provides long-range lethality while engaging small, high-speed, surface targets. 该系统在舰船遭遇小型高速水面目标时将提供远距离的致命杀伤力。 来自互联网

14 vaccinated   

[医]已接种的，种痘的，接种过疫菌的

参考例句：

• I was vaccinated against tetanus. 我接种了破伤风疫苗。
• Were you vaccinated against smallpox as a child? 你小时候打过天花疫苗吗？

15 underlying   

adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的

参考例句：

• The underlying theme of the novel is very serious.小说隐含的主题是十分严肃的。
• This word has its underlying meaning.这个单词有它潜在的含义。

16 duress   

n.胁迫

参考例句：

• He claimed that he signed the confession under duress.他说他是被迫在认罪书上签字的。
• These unequal treaties were made under duress.这些不平等条约是在强迫下签订的。

17 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

18 phoenix   

n.凤凰，长生(不死)鸟；引申为重生

参考例句：

• The airline rose like a phoenix from the ashes.这家航空公司又起死回生了。
• The phoenix worship of China is fetish worship not totem adoration.中国凤崇拜是灵物崇拜而非图腾崇拜。

19 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。

20 amputation   

n.截肢

参考例句：

• In ancient India,adultery was punished by amputation of the nose.在古代印度，通奸要受到剖鼻的处罚。
• He lived only hours after the amputation.截肢后，他只活了几个小时。

21 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。