Nursing shortage and COVID surge add up to concern

Twenty-one months into this pandemic, we’re trying not to panic.

The number of COVID-19 cases in our counties continues to rise, some attributed to the persistent delta variant and likely some to the newcomer omicron.

Across seven days, Berks is averaging 451.8 cases per 100,000 residents; Chester, 272.6 cases per 100,000, and Montgomery, 265.5 cases per 100,000 residents, according to the state Department of Health dashboard. The positivity rate percentages looked to as the barometer of community spread are 20.3 percent for Berks; 11.6 for Chester, and 10.9 for Montgomery compared to the desired benchmark of 5 percent.

In Berks, the numbers of new cases per day have peaked higher in recent weeks than at any point during the pandemic.

We didn’t expect this for December 2021.

But as we face the concern that now clouds the holidays, our worries pale in comparison to the one group we rely on to keep ourselves and loved ones safe: health care workers.

The hype of heroism that was prevalent in the early stages of the pandemic has waned, and yet, those working in hospitals and nursing homes are in need of support now more than ever. The past 21 months have taken a toll on staffing, hitting a crisis for health care facilities as nurses and aides leave their jobs due to burnout and lure of higher pay from contract work.

The staffing crisis last week caused Gov. Tom Wolf to request Federal Emergency Management Agency “strike teams” for hospitals, skilled nursing facilities and ambulance companies to assist in the hardest hit areas of Pennsylvania.

The Associated Press reported that staffing shortages in nursing homes are forcing some to stop accepting new residents, causing a bottleneck in hospitals as patients can’t be discharged to care facilities. In addition, hospital nursing shortages are creating long emergency room wait times in some areas of the state, AP reported.

With the state reporting more than 8,500 new cases per day, up nearly 50% in two weeks, the number of patients requiring hospital care for COVID has increased by twothirds since last month.

Another factor in the staffing crisis in hospitals and nursing facilities is nurses quitting their jobs. A report by Ford Turner of the Allentown Morning Call noted that testimony at a recent House Republican Policy Committee hearing showed nurses leaving their jobs in “breathtaking” numbers.

An Allegheny Health Network official said 35% of all nursing slots there were vacant, while a Geisinger executive said that system has 670 inpatient nurse vacancies, Turner reported. Those testifying told of nurses being stressed out, exhausted and sacrificing personal lives to go to the wall for sick and dying patients.

The situation exists in both hospital and long-term care facilities. AP reported that a recent survey of long-term care facilities found that 20% of the long-term care workforce has departed since early 2020.

“It really has become a vicious cycle. When hospitals can’t admit to nursing homes due to workforce shortages, it creates this backlog and it really has a negative impact both on acute and post-acute health care in Pennsylvania,” said Zach Shamberg, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Health Care Association, a nursing home trade group that conducted the survey of its members.

Among state lawmakers, the debate is whether to focus on the staffing shortage or on vaccinations. The overwhelming number of those hospitalized for COVID are unvaccinated, according to reports.

This surge of COVID spread is cause for real concern. And it demonstrates the need to value our health-care workers. Nursing staffs at facilities are stretched thin, overworked and stressed. We owe them, first, getting vaccinated and boosted to prevent illness that requires hospital care,and second, a little of that hero appreciation we embraced so heartily when the coronavirus was new and terrifying.

If you or your loved ones are not vaccinated, consider the importance to the health care in your community and get it done. And, thank a nurse today. The front lines on which health care workers labor is harder than ever. Twentyone months in, we’re facing a tough reality, and nurses are getting the brunt of it.