US hospitals seeing different kind of COVID surge this time

By RODRIQUE NGOWI, MICHAEL CASEY and DON THOMPSON
Associated Press

Hospitals across the U.S. are feeling the wrath of the omicron variant and getting thrown into disarray that is different from earlier COVID-19 surges. This time, they are dealing with serious staff shortages because so many workers are getting sick. People are showing up at emergency rooms in large numbers in hopes of getting tested for COVID-19. And a surprising number of patients are testing positive for the virus while in the hospital for other reasons. At the same time, hospitals say the patients aren’t as sick as those who came in during the last surge. Intensive care units aren’t as full, and ventilators aren’t needed as much as they were before.