HOUSTON — Hospitals across the Greater Houston area said 3% to 10% of their workforce is out sick with COVID-19.
That, coupled with the omicron variant that's spreading faster than before, is creating major issues. Harris County is now stepping in with millions of dollars in funding to get help here fast.
"This is so urgent when you don't have enough resources to treat patients at a hospital," Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said.
Help is on the way to Harris County after Commissioners Court approved $40 million to fund more than 600 out-of-state nurses to come help area hospitals.
"It is very, very needed," said Louis Smith, Chief Operating Officer of Harris Health System.
Smith told KHOU 11 News that 5% of their staff that works with patients is out because of COVID-19. That's about 250 people a day at hospitals like Ben Taub and LBJ.
"Our staff is just tired," Smith said. "This has been a real tough time during this process dating back to 2020."
The staffing shortage leads to long wait times at ERs.
"We are seeing a lot of patients in waiting rooms because we have patients that need to be admitted and they're not able to get admitted because the staffing is not where we want it to be," Smith said.
Several nurses sent by the state arrived last Friday. About 40 to 50 more funded by the county will join Harris Health as soon as next week.
"It's given a jolt of optimism that the level of support has been allocated and will arrive at our facilities soon," Smith said.
And Houston Methodist tells KHOU 11 News nearly 1,200 employees have been out in the last seven days. They will get 200 nurses over the next few weeks.
With an unknown timeline on when omicron will peak, hospitals are bracing for things to get worse before they get better.
"You could at one time enter any hospital and go anywhere you wanted, you can't today and that's because of COVID," Smith said. "The next couple of weeks will be really critical."
Officials at area hospitals continue to encourage folks not to head to emergency rooms seeking to be tested for COVID-19. That is an issue that continues to clog up ERs across the area.