WesternMd. hot spots won’t get 1st vaccine

Allegany, Garrett ‘struggling’ yet fall short in criteria for first-round shipment Hospitals juggle mounting cases but still have beds

As new cases of coronavirus infection swelled again this fall, setting new daily records starting in mid-November, Maryland officials watched warily as hospitalizations crept up.

While initially lagging the growing caseload, hospitalizations caught up this week, with the number in hospital beds reaching 1,729 on Friday, more than doubling from a month earlier. There are more patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in Maryland now than at any other time during the pandemic, stretching resources and straining the workforce.

The surge in cases and hospitalizations is happening nationwide, with the country hitting the grim milestone this week of more than 3,000 deaths in a single day. Several states report dangerous hospital crowding with few, if any, beds left for more patients.

Maryland still has a cushion of hospital beds, and more could be set up if needed. But officials fear the situation will worsen during the holiday season, even as localities tighten restrictions to curb infections and health care providers get better at treating the sick.

“We’re very concerned the numbers may go up,” said Bob Atlas, president and CEO of the Maryland Hospital Association. “We’re two weeks beyond the Thanksgiving incubation period whenpeople show symptoms and then symptoms start to make them go to the hospital. So we’re bracing for what might come in another week or two.”

Atlas said the hospitals used the lead time to prepare, but he and others also are “urging people to do the right thing” to

ULYSSES MUÑOZ/BALTIMORE SUN A medical worker passes in front of University of Maryland Medical Center on Friday. The 13-hospital system is busier now than in recent months with all kinds of patients, but it had prepared for a fall and winter surge.