Maryland hospitals running out of room because of COVID patients, staff shortages

BALTIMORE -- State hospitals are running out of room. 

The Maryland Hospital Association said many are at 90 percent capacity, some even completely full.

This increased demand comes as hospitals continue to struggle with staffing shortages.

January is around the time COVID-19 peaks in our hospitals. 

Bob Atlas, president and CEO of the Maryland Hospital Association, said in 2022 that almost 3,500 were in the hospital at one point.

The latest state data shows, as of Jan. 9, there are 833 Maryland patients in the hospital with COVID.

"It sounds like a lot less, but we have tremendous demand for all the other kinds of care," Atlas said.

That other kind of care includes treating those with the flu and RSV, forming the "tripledemic." 

The high demand has prompted the Maryland Health Association to urge people to avoid heading to the hospital unless they have life-threatening injuries and conditions.

A silver lining is flu and RSV numbers have trended down lately, but the new COVID variant XBB 1.5 has been making a wave.

Doctors say it hasn't been causing as many hospitalizations as other strains, but Atlas said it's spreading enough to cause concern.

"The problem isn't that it's more virulent, it's simply that being more transmissible," Atlas said. "More people are getting sick and there's always going to be some fraction of people who get sick who are going to need to be hospitalized."

As patients continue to fill the majority of beds, Atlas said hospitals are still dealing with 1-in-4 vacancies with permanent positions like nurses, lab technicians and respiratory therapists.

They've been using contractors where they can, but it's costly.

"[We're using] temporary personnel whose hourly rate works out to be two, sometimes three times the cost of a salaried nurse or lab tech," Atlas said.

Atlas adds in the end, recruiting will be key.

"We in the hospital field are working hard to try and grow the pipeline of new talent," he said.

Some of the ways the MHA is trying to recruit include running social media campaigns, talking to students about these careers, and working with elected leaders to fund training opportunities.

Atlas reminds folks to also get vaccinated for COVID and the flu, and to practice things like masking and social distancing to prevent spread of viruses.