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Amid an increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations, health officials at two of New Mexico's largest hospital systems asked residents not to come to emergency rooms for minor health concerns.
University of New Mexico Hospital and Presbyterian Healthcare Services officials said their emergency rooms are being overwhelmed with patients and asked for those seeking tests for COVID-19 and treatment for mild ailments to go elsewhere.
According to Worldometers, daily COVID cases in the state are increasing sharply in January, with a total of 4,252 cases reported just on Friday. As of Sunday, there were over 47,500 active cases. Johns Hopkins University data shows hospitalizations are also higher, though not quite at December's peaks, with 618 hospitalized for the virus as of Monday.
Though most patients at New Mexico hospitals are not suffering from COVID-19, health officials said that even a few extra patients with the virus can significantly add to the burden on doctors and nurses.
Dr. Steve McLaughlin, chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the University of New Mexico, suggested alternative places to go for minor injuries and illnesses.
"If you are very sick, we are here for you, and we want you to come in," McLaughlin said. "If your illness is mild, we really encourage you to seek care through your primary care physician, a virtual visit or some other alternative and not come to the emergency department."
The officials at University of New Mexico Hospital and Presbyterian Healthcare Services stressed that the sickest patients are being treated first and that emergency rooms are no place for people seeking COVID-19 tests who do not have severe symptoms.
At Presbyterian, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jason Mitchell said staff is trying to deal with overrun emergency rooms by treating patients with mild issues in hallways or in waiting rooms.
He also encouraged people to get COVID-19 and influenza vaccinations, saying those help keep infections mild so hospital trips can be avoided.
The situation is no different in other states, where staffing shortages among health care workers have complicated issues. Even before the pandemic, New Mexico was dealing with a nursing shortage and had one of the lowest patient-to-bed ratios among all states.
"We really are in a public health crisis, and we're asking for the public's help," Mitchell said.
The officials also warned that cloth masks aren't effective and that people "need to up the game" given the high rate of transmissibility of the Omicron variant.
Infections are happening among vaccinated hospital staff as well, but the officials said symptoms mostly have been mild. Still, McLaughlin said it was a "huge challenge" to have workers out due to mandatory quarantines.
If conditions worsen, Mitchell said it's possible the quarantine time for health care workers with COVID-19 who are asymptomatic could be cut further to address staffing shortages. He said Presbyterian continues to follow federal guidelines.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
