US hospitals facing worrisome shortage of nurses, doctors

With so many states seeing a flood of coronavirus patients, U.S. hospitals are again worried about finding enough medical workers to meet demand just as infections from the holiday season threaten to add to the burden on American health care.

California, which is enduring by far its worst spike in cases and hospitalizations, is reaching out to places like Australia and Taiwan to fill the need for 3,000 temporary medical workers, particularly nurses trained in critical care.

“We’re now in a situation where we have surges all across the country, so nobody has many nurses to spare,” said Dr. Janet Coffman, a professor of public policy at the University of California in San Francisco.

Hospitals in some states have enlisted retired nurses and students. In Alabama, more than 120 students and faculty members from the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s nursing school began helping with care last week at UAB Hospital.

“I know our biggest concern is staff, even more concerned about that than physical beds and physical ICU units,” North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said Tuesday.

Elected leaders and health officials across the U.S. are asking people to stay home for the holidays while also trying show the public that the COVID-19 vaccines trickling out to health care workers and nursing home residents are safe.

A day after getting vaccinated on live television, President-elect Joe Biden said Tuesday that he has full confidence in the vaccine. He also thanked frontline workers, scientists, researchers and clinical trial participants while urging Americans to avoid large gatherings over the Christmas holidays.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, received the initial dose of the newest vaccine, produced by Moderna, alongside other federal health leaders who helped oversee its development.

Fauci told “Good Morning America” on Tuesday that he expects to start vaccinating the general population in late March or early

April and that most Americans will have access to the injections by mid-summer.

Also on Tuesday, Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House coronavirus response, said she planned to retire, but she is willing to first help Biden’s team as needed. Birx, in an interview with the news site Newsy, did not give a specific timetable on her plans.

The medical worker staffing shortages are happening as some states report a record number of deaths. Both Mississippi and West Virginia surpassed their previous highs for virus deaths reported in a single day on Tuesday while Arizona saw its second-highest daily increase during the pandemic.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster tested positive for the virus and was to receive outpatient antibody treatment for “mild symptoms,” his office said Tuesday.

In Tennessee, which is seeing the nation’s worst new COVID-19 infection surge per capita, the state health commissioner has warned that combining the Thanksgiving surge with another would “completely break our hospitals.”