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Short-staffed ER taking toll on employees

Tyler ER physician says it's tough being short staffed; causing "a degree of burnout" on employees working overtime.

TYLER, Texas — The influx of positive COVID-19 cases in East Texas is causing a trickle-down effect to businesses and hospitals.

As hiring signs get posted nationwide, employers are urgently hiring and asking for patience as they face a staffing shortage due to the highly contagious omicron variant.

Tyler Complete Care physician Dr. Bill Wallace says it's not just the public that's affected.

ERs are seeing more patients than average during this time of year while also being short staffed due to COVID-19. 

"Hospitalizations have gone up," said NET Health CEO George Roberts. "A large of employers are having issues with employees who have now come down with COVID-19." 

At Tyler Complete Care, things are taking a turn for the worse. Within the last three weeks, Dr. Wallace says the ER is running probably 50 or 60% above normal."

And it's not just the patients out sick.

"Just today, I heard we've had our fourth person go out with COVID, just in the last several days," said Dr. Wallace. 

Dr. Wallace says at any given time now, the ER can be 20 to 25% understaffed -- taking a toll on the staff, both mentally and physically.

 "It's tough, because I think it does contribute to some degree of burnout, you're asking people to work seven days a week and work overtime," said Dr. Wallace. 

NET Health says a light could be at the end of the tunnel. 

According to Roberts, if you look at South Africa and Britain, their spikes lasted four to six weeks. He says East Texas is "probably in week two or three of our spike." 

During this time, medical professional will still see a high number of positive cases before it levels off.

Tyler Complete Care wants to urge people seeking a COVID-19 test with no symptoms of illness to to take a different route, if possible, to help them provide care to severely sick patients during this time.

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