Ómicron, a new blow to the exhausted front-line staff

COVID-19 staff absences tripled this month in London hospitals and nearly 10% of the city’s firefighters missed work due to illness.

In New York, about 2,700 police officers were absent this week, twice the average number of sick officers. And in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Judy Snar said she was on the edge, with 50-hour weekly shifts at a supermarket and tasks in addition to her regular job because the store has about 100 workers when it should be 150.

“We don’t have enough hands. Everyone works as hard as they can physically and mentallyMashpee said.

The global rebound in coronavirus cases driven by the omicron variant is a further blow to hospitals, police stations, supermarkets and other hotspots struggling to maintain a full workforce of frontline workers as the pandemic enters its third year.

Governments have taken steps to curb staff shortages in jobs considered essential to society, from truck drivers and janitors to babysitters and train drivers. But nurses and other professionals fear that ongoing staffing problems will increase risk to the public and burnout among these workers.

Mike Solan, a Seattle police officer who leads his city’s police union, said his department had 300 fewer officers in a contingent of 1,350.

“It is difficult for our community because we are waiting for that request for help. And we are also at risk because we do not have the proper security numbers to have a safe work environment when we respond to that request for help.“, he pointed.

Michelle Gonzalez, a nurse at New York’s Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, said that in reality, she and her colleagues in the intensive care unit have never had a break from COVID-19, and that the arrival of omicron has only rekindled his post-traumatic stress disorder.

“Before work I have a lot of anxiety. If I have had two days off, I return in panic because I do not know what I am going to find “added.

Countries like Spain and Great Britain have reduced COVID-19 quarantines to alleviate staff shortages by allowing people to return to work earlier after testing positive or being exposed to the virus.

Meanwhile, in the United States, states like Massachusetts have called in hundreds of National Guard members to help fill gaps in hospitals and nursing homes, where they serve meals, transport patients and do other non-clinical tasks.

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan has vowed to veto legislation repelling a $ 4 an hour wage hike for risk-based food business workers, which has been in effect for nearly a year in some West Coast cities like Los Angeles, Berkeley and Long Beach, in California.

“Now is not the time to cut down on these crucial front-line workers“Said the Democratic mayor this week.

The unions that represent health workers denounce that too many hospitals do not cover the losses or make long-term contracts to personnel exhausted by the pandemic.

For example, in New York’s three largest hospitals alone, there are 1,500 nursing positions open, double the number at the beginning of the pandemic, said Carl Ginsberg, a spokesman for the New York State Nurses Association, with 42,000 members.

“There are not enough nurses to do the job well, so there are situations where the units have dangerous conditions, where the patients are in danger.“, he claimed.

In London, the epicenter of the British omicron outbreak, a wave of staff casualties hit hospitals just as COVID-19 admissions doubled in three weeks. The latest rally will likely persist until mid-January, according to authorities.

“It wouldn’t take much to cause a crisis”Said David Oliver, a consulting physician at a hospital in the south-east of England.

Home managers in the United States, which suffered some of the deadliest outbreaks of COVID-19 at the start of the pandemic, joined calls for authorities to do more.

Although cases in long-term residences have not yet risen drastically, the industry is preparing for the omicron with 15% fewer workers today than at the beginning of the pandemic, said Rachel Reeves, spokeswoman for the American Health Care Association and the National Center for Assisted Living, a group representing the industry.

In the past, residences have had trouble competing for staff with other health services because in practice their salaries are set by the government, he said, so the companies hoped that the government of President Joe Biden could raise funding for Medicaid and create staff recruitment and retention programs.

“The caretakers are exhausted. Not only have many suffered tremendous losses, it has been physically and emotionally exhausting fighting this virus day after day.Reeves considered.

Biden’s coronavirus relief plan, valued at $ 1.9 trillion, includes $ 350 billion for state and local governments to offer a “first“To essential workers. States also use other pandemic funds to expand their workforce.

In West Virginia, Gov. Jim Justice said Tuesday that his administration will use the state’s remaining $ 48 million in CARES Act funds to hire and train nurses to meet its goal of adding more than 2,000 new nurses in the next four. years.

But health systems are not the only ones warning of dire consequences and asking for more support.

Ed Bastian, CEO of Delta Air Lines, was one of those who asked the Biden government to reduce the quarantine recommended by COVID-19 to five days to avoid disruptions in air traffic.

Rail operators also warned of sudden cancellations and other service problems due to lack of staff on subway and medium distance lines related to COVID-19.

In Britain, the railway company LNER announced this week that it would cancel 16 trains a day until Christmas Eve. Transport for London, which operates the tube and has about 28,000 employees, also warned of delays as 500 frontline workers were on COVID-19-related sick leave.

Even small businesses like restaurants and nail salons, which are not necessarily considered essential, were preparing to reduce their opening hours or brief closings if understaffing worsened.

Manhattan restaurant owner Bret Csencsitz said a lack of workers forced him to cut capacity and cut staples like burgers and oysters from the menu in Gotham, which reopened last month.

The Trophy Brewing brewery in Raleigh, North Carolina, cut its working hours and decided to soon close three of its four locations on New Year’s Eve, said David Lockwood, a co-owner of the company.

In Washington DC, the DogMa residence and day center for dogs indicated this week that it would suspend its service for day stays until January 3 because several employees had tested positive for COVID-19.

Daniel Schneider, a Harvard professor who specializes in low-income workers, said people should be aware that essential workers do not have the luxury of working from home like other Americans.

“Office workers must assess the real risks these people run. “You cannot charge the purchase from home. Shelves cannot be replenished from home”He added.