GREEN BAY, Wis.— As the COVID-19 omicron variant becomes a concern for our state, health providers are still grappling with the effects of the current more dominate variant: delta.  

Ken Nelson, chief nursing executive for Hospital Sisters Health System (HSHS), said hospitals all over are under strain due to limited resources. 

He’s no stranger to the challenges.

“That availability can vary day by day, shift by shift, hour by hour sometimes,” said Nelson. ”Sometimes there are delays more than we would like; we work through trying to mitigate all that [and] it’s been a real dance to say the least.“

Currently, HSHS which is made up of 9 hospitals in Illinois and 6 in Wisconsin, with more than 180 patients in hospital beds due to COVID-19. About two-thirds of those patients are unvaccinated. Hospitalizations are just as high as last November, a trend held steady.

“COVID is still here,” said Nelson. “We are closely watching this new variant in addition to managing our patients who have COVID. People [should] still be on the alert, still vigilant, taking care of themselves [and] getting vaccinated.” 

Nelson said because some hospitals in HSHS are tertiary referral hospitals, they’ll receive transfer patients seeking speciality care. Recently, an influx of more of those patients from a greater coverage area are taking up beds. He says this is a direct result of other strained health care facilities. 

“Numbers wise it’s been huge, significantly higher,” said Nelson. “We’ve also seen significantly broader region from which we are getting calls. This tells us that all health care everywhere is seeing the strain on resources, on beds, so we have to be ready for what comes our way.”

Local health care providers like Bellin Health are relaying the same message: There’s a strain on beds, resources and staff. 

“We have converted many of our common areas into patient care space,” said Jason Perry, director of clinical support for Bellin Health. “We are looking into further doing that. We’re getting creative and doing what we need to do so we can continue offering the services for the population we serve.“

According to the Wisconsin Hospital Association, more than 1,400 people across the state are in the hospital right now because of COVID--19. That’s the highest since the start of 2021.