Medical and ER staff members say their workloads are growing as more of their colleagues call out because of infection or exposure.

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The omicron variant of the coronavirus has spread throughout the country, and so has the subsequent labor crisis. With the current surge, essential workers are again bearing the brunt, and medical personnel are some of the record-setting cases.

“There are colleagues that either have Covid, had Covid or are not passing the [hospital’s] screening, which monitors symptoms or, at the least, exposure,” Harrison said. “It’s pretty dynamic, and we’re definitely not able to operate at our fullest.”

Hospitals, which reported staffing shortages last week, according to the Department of Health & Human Services, are just one of the services at the forefront of the labor shortfall. 

Last week, as people waited for Covid tests in lines that wound down city blocks, CityMD, the privately owned urgent care clinic in New York and New Jersey, announced that it was temporarily closing 19 of its 150 locations because of staffing shortages. It closed more locations Wednesday.

Emergency Medical Service crews from New York City's Fire Department are answering more than 4,000 calls a day, largely from people with Covid-19 symptoms, while 30 percent of EMS staff members are on medical leave, the fire department said.

“More than 100 emergency medical technicians (EMTs) were just put into the field from the EMS Academy to help with staffing,” a fire department spokesperson said in an email Thursday.

EMT shortages are not just a city problem, providers across the country say.

Dave Larsuel, the service director of Lake Mills EMS, a nonprofit ambulance service in Wisconsin, said a growing number of volunteers from his team of 24 have been taking leave. The service handles two to three calls a day in Lake Mills, which has a population of about 6,000, he said, and every call his team cannot take could lead to a catastrophic result. 

But he understands why volunteers have been opting out, especially if they have medically vulnerable family members. 

“They don’t get paid, and it does cause burnout,” said Larsuel, 55. “Especially when you have people who don’t believe in following [Covid] rules.” ...