Many hospitals are preparing for a potential
overall COVID-19 surge in January, as the state closes in on the
record-high for COVID-19 pediatric hospitalizations.
The total number of patients is now closer
to 3,000, which is a number not seen since last winter. The
trend is expected to continue for weeks, with additional problems on
the horizon.
Dr. Dan Varga, the chief physician executive at Hackensack Meridian Health, says they're running low on front-line workers. About 600 employees across its health network are currently out because of the virus.
Varga says they still have enough for now, but some have been
moved around the network to support fellow workers. To top it
off, the healthy workers are running out of treatments to help
patients.
"The one remaining monoclonal antibody treatment we have is
in very, very short supply. We're trying to allocate that to the most
vulnerable, but we'll run out of that in relatively short order," Varga
says.
Almost all COVID-19 patients at Hackensack Meridian have the
Omicron variant.
Varga hopes the White House will increase the antibody treatments
sooner rather than later.