Hogan moves to increase hospital staff capacity amid elevated coronavirus numbers
By Ovetta Wiggins and Erin Cox
Maryland announced steps Tuesday to address a looming shortage of hospital beds and an even graver shortage of doctors and nurses to staff them as the Washington region braces for a winter coronavirus surge.
The state has 1,583 people in hospitals being treated for the virus, the most since early May. Public health experts warn that the situation is expected to get worse during the winter months.
“It’s a scary situation for everybody involved,” Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said at a Tuesday news conference. “We do see in the next few days us hitting a critical point.”
The governor said the number of people hospitalized in the state has increased 51 percent in the past two weeks, while modeling shows that “the worse part of this entire crisis is still ahead of us in the next month or two.”