'Not in a good place': Hospitals prepare for omicron surge after holidays
Health care workers, already pushed to their limits, are bracing for an onslaught of Covid patients after the holiday season. Hospitals across the country are bracing for a post-holiday surge in Covid-19 cases, driven by the extremely contagious omicron variant of the coronavirus. In Rhode Island, hospitals are already in a fragile position heading into the New Year, said Dr. Nadine Himelfarb, the president of the Rhode Island Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians. Full coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic As of Monday, the state had the third-highest share of new Covid-19 cases in the country adjusted for population, according to an NBC News tally. Rhode Island has the highest percentage in the country of hospital beds filled, at about 88 percent, and it ranks No. 2 in the percentage of hospitals statewide reporting critical staffing shortages. With many hospitals at or near capacity, health care staffers are exhausted, Himelfarb said, and another surge in cases, potent...