If you know anyone who works at a hospital, you probably already know what terrible season this has been for health care workers. Between rising cases of COVID-19 and the normal spike in seasonal illnesses like the flu, many Michigan hospitals are in crisis mode. Emergency rooms and intensive care units are packed with patients who need ventilators and oxygen tanks. Surgeries are being postponed and hospitals are shifting staff from other departments to help handle the load.
While cases of COVID appear to be falling in the state, the caseloads aren’t yet falling at hospitals. And now, we’re heading into a holiday season that will bring a lot of intermingling with friends and family, and a new variant—omicron—has shown up in Kent County. Michigan Radio’s Dustin Dwyer has been covering the story from West Michigan, and talked to us about what he saw on a visit to the COVID ward of Mercy Health Saint Mary's in Grand Rapids.
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