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‘Rough Couple of Months': Doctors Warn of Possible Winter COVID Surge in Mass.
As the new omicron variant emerges in other parts of the country, COVID-19 cases are already climbing in Massachusetts. This week the state reported the highest COVID case numbers since January, and with hospital beds filling, doctors are warning of a winter surge.
“I’m actually more concerned right now than I was last year,” said Dr. Eric Dickson, the president and CEO of UMass Memorial Health.
Dickson also said their hospital is full of non-COVID patients this year who delayed care during the peak of the pandemic, so they are struggling with capacity. UMass Memorial ran out of ICU beds this week.
“We’re not even effectively managing what we have today and we’re just getting started with this new variant. It’s going to be a rough couple of months,” Dr. Dickson said.
Worcester County faces grim diagnosis on COVID-19 with variants
UMass Memorial Medical Center had 70 people waiting for beds at the University Campus on Friday — eight of whom needed intensive care beds — as COVID-19 surges followed after the Thanksgiving holiday.
UMass Memorial Health President and CEO Dr. Eric Dickson said the worst is yet to come.
“Unfortunately, it’s not going to end anytime soon with the (omicron) variant coming, (and the delta variant) already doing this to us today, and cold and flu season coming, it’s going to be a rough couple of months,” Dickson said in an interview Friday afternoon. “It’s going to get worse, there’s no doubt it’s going to get worse, and if it’s a bad flu season on top of this, that will make it worse too.”
Massachusetts recorded 5,170 new COVID cases on Dec. 2, the latest data available as of deadline, and case totals have gone up 150% and hospitalizations have nearly doubled in recent weeks. Luckily, deaths have not risen as quickly, according to state data.