ICU Capacity

Hospitals already stretched thin from the ongoing pandemic face new hurdles with the Omicron variant, as intensive care units across 19 states and D.C. near capacity.

Intensive care units near full capacity by state

Percent of staffed adult ICU beds that are being utilized for the week ending Jan 14, 2022

As case rates from the Omicron variant begin to peak, hospitalizations remain high, stressing health care systems and health care workers. Intensive care units (ICU) across 19 states and the District of Columbia were at 85% capacity or more as of January 14, 2022. This is especially concerning as hospitalization rates are expected to rise through the end of the month. In states like Texas, where only 315 ICU beds were available across the state as of January 12, wearing masks, quarantining, and getting vaccinated are critical in preserving an already overwhelmed health care system.1

Staff shortages in hospitals have further compounded this crisis, as health care workers themselves test positive and must follow isolation protocols. Even with newly shortened CDC isolation and quarantine guidelines, roughly 1,200 hospitals across the nation reported critical staffing shortages as of January 10. Another 120 anticipate shortages in the following week.2

Several states have enacted statewide measures that require health care workers to focus on patients in critical need, putting workers in the difficult position of determining who receives care and who does not.2 For example, a patient suffering from sepsis needed urgent surgery but was forced to wait 2 weeks before a hospital bed became available, dying shortly afterward due to worsened conditions.3 As hospitals approach maximum capacity, communities should implement policies to reduce transmission and minimize the need for rationing care.

1. “Texas shows the dangers of indifference to omicron”. Narea. Vox. January, 2022. https://www.vox.com/2022/1/13/22876492/texas-omicron-hospitalizations-covid-icu-testing-vaccine

2. “U.S. breaks record with more than 145,000 covid-19 hospitalizations”. Nirappil, Shammas, Keating, and Bernstein. The Washington Post. January, 2022. https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/01/10/covid-hospitalized-omicron/

3. “He died after waiting for a hospital bed. His family blames unvaccinated covid-19 patients”. Bella. The Washington Post. December, 2021. https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2021/12/28/iowa-dale-weeks-hospitals-covid-sepsis/

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Covid Hospitalizations By Age