DELAWARE - Hospitals in Delaware are struggling to keep up with rising COVID-19 cases. Tuesday, Governor John Carney invited ChristianaCare and Beebe Healthcare to his COVID-19 press briefing.
Those hospitals stopped elective surgeries. The governor didn’t go into detail about the omicron variant today, but focused on hospitals and the rising case rate.
The state is at almost 800 new cases on a 7 day average and Governor Carney says that is 7 times greater than where it needs to be.
As COVID-19 cases rise in Delaware, there is no sign of any mandates going into effect.
"We don't have the tools with respect to closing businesses, if you remember we got hundreds of millions of dollars from the federal government to support small businesses. Closing them down could be devastating to them, so working on protective measures short of closing like that is something that we will look at first for sure,” said Carney.
71 percent of the state’s 390 hospitalizations are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated people.
Hospitals across the state are pleading for help. At ChristianaCare the hospital is running at 100% capacity.
"Our patients are receiving care in hallways because that is the only place that we have to put them in the emergency department right now,” said Sharon Kurfuerst, system chief operating officer and President of ChristianaCare, Union Hospital.
Here in Sussex county, Beebe Healthcare's COVID patients have doubled since Thanksgiving.
Not only are healthcare workers tired physically, but emotionally.
"These two adult kids hadn't seen their dad. They came from other parts of delmarva and they have to get dressed up to go say goodbye to their dad. And that was very heartbreaking for me as well as the nurses to see,” said Dr. David Tam, president and CEO of Beebe Healthcare.
To help lighten the strain on hospitals, they ask every Delawarean to get vaccinated, boosted, wear a mask, get tested, get flu vaccine, and encourage loved ones to do the same
"I respectfully ask you to be nice to be kind, to be polite, because these guys are here to take care of you,” said Dr. Tam.
He also says no matter what, they are committed to providing quality healthcare.
Starting next month, President Biden says the federal government will ship 500 million free rapid tests to americans. The president also announced Tuesday he will increase support for hospitals by deploying more medical workers, expanding capacity in hospitals, and providing hospitals with additional supplies like ventilators, masks, gowns, and more.