Northeast Georgia Health Care System says they're filled to capacity
Health officials urge Georgians to celebrate holidays safely
Those on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic are asking Georgians to celebrate the holidays safely.
GAINESVILLE, Ga. - Healthcare workers are begging Georgians to celebrate the holidays safely this year.
Doctors and nurses across the country have been forced to run at sprint speed for a marathon's distance since the start of the pandemic.
Healthcare workers at Northeast Georgia Health Systems tell FOX 5's Alex Whittler they're spread so thin, they're worried they won't have enough beds for patients and fear they will soon have to turn some away.
This, after they nearly doubled their patient capacity in anticipation of the thanksgiving holiday and other spikes earlier this year.
"Our concern is if things continue to rise with the Christmas holidays, that's always a concern. What are we going to do when we get to 300 patients? What are we going to do when we get to 400 patients," the healthcare system's medical staff chief, Dr. Clifton Hastings said. "We only have 675 acute care beds."
Nearly 700 beds may sound sufficient, but considering the system's 4 hospitals expanded to that number to account for 10 to 12 counties and are already at capacity, the idea of people in close quarters without masks on during the holidays makes the chief of the system’s medical staff shutter.
"Well we're full now. I expect we'll be well beyond our capacity by March," Dr. Hastings said.
To put things into perspective, Northeast Georgia hospital workers say pre-covid nurses would tend to three or four patients. Now they assist six to eight or more.
"At some point you can't go beyond that," Dr. Hastings said. "We still have the same number of doctors and nurses," he said.
That's why Northeast Georgia Health Systems management begs Georgians to stay home this holiday season and if you will be around others, they implore you to wear a mask.
If you were to look at the hospital system's website, you might see available beds listed but representatives say information changes so often that that can be dangerously deceiving.
"It may look as though there we've got 40 beds available, which is already a scarcity we should be concerned about, but in reality, those beds are not available we just haven't moved a patient to one part of the hospital to the next," Sean Couch with Northeast Georgia Health System said.
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