A new variant brings along newer challenges, newer fears, and the same burning question – when will all this end?
The Covid-19 pandemic which was supposed to get over by this Christmas might be turning a new leaf as the newly detected highly mutated omicron variant takes over the world!
“It’s somewhat a subjective judgment because it’s not just about the number of cases. It’s about the severity and it’s about impact,” says Dr. Michael Ryan, the World Health Organization’s emergencies chief.
The hospitals across Wisconsin have announced that they are facing a shortage of ICU beds as Covid-19 cases are rising across the state.
According to hospital resources, they are also facing a staff shortage and less than 3% of ICU beds are available for the patients at the moment.
The top health policy officer for Milwaukee County, Dr Ben Weston stated that a large number of ICU beds are being used to treat the Covid-19 patients.
“I think we’re at a critical time for our hospitals,” Dr. Ben Weston said. “When entire regions of our state have single digits… and we’re not talking nine or ten. We’re talking zero, one, or two.
According to the Wisconsin Hospital Association, “there were just 37 ICU beds available on Tuesday afternoon, out of 1,331 total beds.
That’s about 2.8% of ICU beds available in Wisconsin.”
The pandemic is not even near ending as the scientists have now determined that coronavirus will not vanish from our lives. It might resonate with milder viruses like flu or coming now and then as seasonal outbreaks but not in large surges the way we are experiencing for the past two years.
“There is not going to be one day when someone says, ‘OK, the pandemic is over,’” says Dr. Chris Woods, an infectious disease expert at Duke University.
“It’s somewhat a subjective judgment because it’s not just about the number of cases. It’s about the severity and it’s about impact,” says Dr. Michael Ryan, the World Health Organization’s emergencies chief.
