BALTIMORE — Maryland is seeing a surge in hospitalizations due to COVID-19 and it’s concerning health officials across the state.
The number of people in Maryland hospitals has increased for three weeks straight with the state reporting nearly 1,200 as of Tuesday.
“Our hospitals are filling up, "said Bob Atlas who is the president and CEO of the Maryland Hospital Association. “Staffed beds is about 92 to 93 percent full. That’s virtually truly full.”
He said the troubling trend is also impacting other hospitals throughout the region.
“For the first time in the whole COVID pandemic, I heard just today a hospital in the DC suburbs being asked to take a patient from Northern Virginia because there was no room there for the patient,” he said.
Atlas said most of the patients in Maryland hospitals aren’t related to COVID-19 as more people seek treatment that was delayed earlier in the pandemic.
However, he said if more people continue to get sick from the virus, it could push more hospitals over the edge.
“Everybody’s kind of at that edge and we don’t want to be pushed over,” he said.
He’s now urging people to get the vaccine and their booster shot to avoid overwhelming hospitals.
“The science is there and there are no longer any excuses for people to remain unvaccinated.”
We spoke to Rachel Taylor from Baltimore who said she knows what it’s like to lose someone to COVID-19.
She said family members died from the virus. It’s why she also wants people to get vaccinated to not only protect themselves, but their loved ones as well
“Get your vaccine. Get the booster and keep practicing social distancing and masking as much as possible,” she said. “Because people are still dying."
Another issue facing hospitals is a “depleted” staff to meet the demand in patients, said Atlas.
He said hospitals can create more beds but they “can’t create more people.”
