[cickpass_broken]

"Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) [..] allocated $12 million in federal funding this month to bring travel nurses to Alabama hospitals experiencing staffing shortages, such as the ones that DeMonia’s family encountered."

We are seeing nurse shortages in Canada as well. Mostly due to poor working conditions (long hours, no paid sick-leave in some jurisdictions). Some low staffing even attributed to evading forest fire smoke (anecdotal).

It's very hard to find the info in Canada. But, it would be interesting to see historical fluctuations in ICU capacity, how much spare capacity is maintained, and how much capacity is taken up by COVID patients.

A 2015 study found that critical-care capacity varied across Canada and should be addressed to avoid regional disruptions for spikes in need[1].

Healthcare systems were perhaps already stressed, and requiring adjustment and improvements, and COVID pushed them over the edge.

[1] https://ccforum.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13054-01...

[cickpass_broken]

I was able to find ICU capacity and occupations for Alabama[1].

Interesting to note, that last time that COVID patients were occupying the peak 700-800 bed range, was Jan 2021. Only, back then, there was ~150 more total capacity. Why has total capacity dropped since the start of the year?

No doubt, COVID hospitalizations are spiking, but total beds available are dipping at the same time. Not a good recipe!

[1] https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/hospitalization-7-day-trend...

[httpsterio]

150 ICU patients is a lot. In the whole country here in Finland, there's 22 COVID patients in ICU right now. We have roughly 50% more people than in Alabama.

[wyager]

This article came out recently about several dozen nurses quitting a regional hospital because the hospital tried to mandate covid vaccination. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/sep/13/new-york-hos...

[AndrewBissell]

One of Biden's new measures he announced last week was a vaccination mandate for any hospital which takes Medicare/Medicaid, so these staffing problems should be expected to get much worse. They just care so dearly about ICU capacity!

[Ancapistani]

I’m not sure why these comments are being downvoted - this is a serious issue in rural America in particular.

There have been multiple protests by healthcare workers near me opposed to the mandate, with dozens wearing scrubs and holding signs saying they will choose to be terminated rather than be vaccinated.

Regardless of how you view their beliefs, it’s readily apparent that the mandate will negatively impact staffing.

[rajin444]

It’s even crazier we’re not considering natural immunity. A lot of these healthcare workers already put themselves at risk and caught covid. And now they’re being forced out.