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Sharp rise in coronavirus cases in the Midwest increases healthcare workers’ risk of infection, jeopardizing staffing levels needed to care for other Covid-19 patients, says CEO of Minnesota hospital system .
Dr Penny Wheeler, who runs Minneapolis-based Allina Health, told CNBC on Monday that the nonprofit health network has more personal protective equipment, ventilators and beds available to treat Covid patients. 19 than during the initial epidemic. in spring. Nurses and doctors, however, are harder to find, she said.
“You can’t make a talented, compassionate caregiver,” Wheeler said in a “Squawk on the Street” interview. “And this is where we have problems now, especially with so many of them who are affected or their family members are affected by the spread of the community in our organization and in the community.
Wheeler said that for this reason, it is imperative that people take seriously public health strategies that can reduce the chain of transmission for the coronavirus in the community. This reduces the likelihood of hospital staff falling ill, she said.
“The need to mask yourself, to physically distance yourself and to wash your hands, all of those things – I know people are tired, but so are health workers, and you can keep our health workers healthier and more capable. to take care of yourself if you do these things, “said Wheeler.” They are incredibly skilled people, and you can’t replace them. “
Minnesota is one of 25 states with record hospitalizations for patients with Covid-19, based on an average of seven days, according to CNBC analysis of data from the COVID Tracking Project, which is managed by reporters from The Atlantic. Minnesota is also one of eight states where daily deaths from Covid-19 are at record highs, with an average of 48 people dying per day last week, according to CNBC’s analysis of Johns University data. Hopkins.
At least 3,297 people in Minnesota have died from Covid-19 during the pandemic, according to data from Hopkins.
Wheeler’s concerns about staffing are shared elsewhere in the country, particularly in some neighboring states of Minnesota, which were hit hard by the coronavirus spike in the fall. “Our geography in the Midwest, in the upper Midwest, has seen an unprecedented number of infections and growing cases,” she said.
Earlier this month, the head of the University of Wisconsin health network told CNBC that its system of seven hospitals is still understaffed, either because they have Covid or because they have another. disease and we must rule out Covid before we bring them in. back to work.”
“There is no excess staff to deploy to other hospitals to help each other out, so we are trying to match the load. We are all trying to keep patients local,” said the CEO of UW Health. , Dr. Alan Kaplan.
The United States has continued to experience a worsening of its coronavirus outbreak in recent weeks, with the daily average of new cases setting a record series. While Wheeler has said that a series of positive developments around Covid-19 vaccines is a “wonderful beacon of hope,” widespread availability is still a long way off.
“We just have to hold on… so let’s take what’s under our control – hide yourself, physical distancing, wash your hands,” Wheeler said. “We can take that, and then we can bridge the gap to a time when there is more hope in the vaccines to come, then we will do a great service and we will have more lives here than lost.”
– CNBC’s Nate Rattner contributed to this report.
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