Murphy asks feds to help staff hospitals, nursing homes overwhelmed by COVID-19

As COVID-19’s highly contagious omicron variant surges, Gov. Phil Murphy said Monday he has asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency to send “strike teams” to work in the state’s hospitals and nursing homes, which have been overwhelmed with sick patients and residents at the same time the virus has decimated their staffs.

Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said many facilities are reporting as much as 30% of their staff is out sick with the coronavirus, burdening health care workers who are treating so many patients with COVID-19 that many hospitals have suspended elective procedures.

Murphy and Persichilli delivered this latest coronavirus news Monday at a briefing the governor’s office announced would be remote after First Lady Tammy Murphy tested positive for COVID-19. She remains asymptomatic, and Murphy and the rest of his family have continued to test negative, the governor said. The Murphys — who recently returned from vacationing in Costa Rica — are fully vaccinated and boosted, he added.

At Monday’s briefing, Persichilli warned the worst may be yet to come, predicting a peak of between 6,000 to 9,000 hospitalizations on Jan. 11. The pandemic’s previous peak of hospitalizations was 8,270 in April 2020. But the omicron variant has sent hospitalizations climbing daily, with 4,715 people hospitalized on Sunday, compared to 2,979 just one week earlier, she said.

Read more: https://newjerseymonitor.com/2022/01/03/murphy-asks-feds-to-help-staff-hospitals-nursing-homes-overwhelmed-by-covid-19/