US Hospitals Forced to Put COVID-19 Sick in Parking Garages, H | COVID-19 Report

US Hospitals Forced to Put COVID-19 Sick in Parking Garages, Hallways—and They’re Running Out of Nurses

For months, hospital leaders across the country have sounded the alarm about the pandemic pushing medical facilities to their limits. A surge in infections linked to Thanksgiving has lead to many hospitals running out of room to treat the severest COVID-19 cases, as well as facilities facing a serious staffing shortage.

Hospital officials dread what might happen in January after families board airplanes for the holidays and spend hours gathered around dinner tables or Christmas trees.

In California, many of the state’s hospitals are running out of room, being forced in some cases to treat patients in hallways and lobbies. The state is also desperately searching for 3,000 temporary medical workers to meet demand. State officials are even reaching out to foreign partners in places like Australia and Taiwan amid a shortage of temporary medical workers in the U.S., particularly nurses trained in critical care.

"We’re now in a situation where we have surges all across the country, so nobody has many nurses to spare," said Dr. Janet Coffman, a professor of public policy at the University of California, San Francisco. @COVID19Up SOURCE