BRAZOS COUNTY, Texas — The Omicron Variant is causing a rampant surge and now a strain on local hospitals around the state.
Now, front-line workers are barely hanging on as they continue the fight against COVID.
The latest numbers from the Texas Department of State Health Services are reporting a total of 562 new COVID-19 cases in just a single day.
”You know as it has been so transmissible," said Dr. Seth Sullivan, infectious disease physician and alternate health authority of Brazos County.
"We’ve seen increasing numbers not only in the community but in the hospitals as well,”
COVID cases continue to be on the rise as well as hospitalizations. This surge is causing front-line workers to face obstacles with limited staff.
”Hospitals have been strained by personnel issues," said Dr. Sullivan.
"Work-related issues, trying to keep a work staff available omicron free and that has been challenging,”
Epidemiologists investigating these trends say the impacts of the Omicron variant are far less severe than the Delta variant.
“One of the very important things that we’ve learned from omicron is that if we look at the percentage hospitalizations especially the percentage of ICU stays and those requiring ventilators," said Dr. Sullivan.
"That percentage is less than it was in delta it's about half of what it was,”
DSHS reports there are a little over seven thousand ventilators available for patients in hospitals around the state.
