The rapid surge of Omicron has affected the treatment of several patients who visit hospitals for other health conditions. The situation is similar throughout the country as Omicron has led to a record number of hospital admissions in the last few weeks. The number stands at an all-time high of more than 150,000 hospitalizations across the US.
In some hospitals, patients coming for other treatments are not admitted to ICUs as the critical care units are overflowing with Covid patients. The hospitals had to make temporary arrangements in regular rooms to provide ICU care in this situation.
Treatment For Other Health Conditions Neglected Amid Omicron Surge
If the operation for other conditions is not urgent, doctors suggest the patients postpone them until the end of the third wave. Patients who visit emergency rooms have to wait for several hours before getting a bed in hospitals.
One of the patients who spoke to the media complained about waiting for 48 hours for a blood transfusion process. Normally, it takes only about seven hours to complete the treatment in most hospitals. However, the situation is similar with most other patients coming for non-Covid treatment.
However, there is some hope as the states that reported the initial surge in Omicron cases have reported fewer hospital admissions in the last week. Some experts hope that this suggests the end of the Omicron wave in the US. Many believe that we are close to the peak of the Omicron wave, and things can look positive from here on.
Doctors have an interesting take on the number of Covid patients in the hospitals. Some of them said that patients initially came for other treatment but detected Covid positive during the tests. In this regard, all the hospital admissions are not only for Covid, and it is distributed like before. Given this situation, hospitals had to tweak certain regulations to accommodate all the patients.
Patients who visit emergency rooms have to wait for several hours before getting a bed in hospitals. Considering this situation, the CDC has allowed infected health workers to resume work if they suffer from only mild symptoms.
Many patients are not willing to take the risk of a hospital visit during the Omicron surge. This has resulted in a lot of delays regarding diagnosing illness or getting treatment for chronic illness. Many patients are not able to get regular treatment for blood pressure issues and diabetes that require constant care.
It is generally seen that elderly patients are not willing to take the risk of Covid infection by visiting hospitals for regular checkups. This means that the existing conditions can get complicated and lead to further problems in the near future. Many people are waiting till the symptoms become very severe before visiting the hospitals for other ailments. Due to this behavior, hospitals are facing more rush towards critical care admissions resulting in total chaos.
Few patients believe that hospitals are not at fault in this situation as they are overloaded with Covid patients across the country. The situation has been similar for two years, and several medical professionals have been working beyond their regular hours for many months.
Experts suggest that getting vaccinated is the best way to protect our bodies from infection. In recent studies, it was seen that booster doses helped people to get better protection from Omicron even though it has invaded vaccine immunity in many cases.
Across the country, the wait time was more than usual for other treatments as Covid patients were given priority. Experts hope that the situation might change in the next few months if the Omicron wave recedes quickly.
