Hospitals in America, Australia And Sweden Are Swamped With People 'Sicker Than Ever' -- And They Don't Have Covid

Inside the emergency department at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing, Mich., staff members are struggling to care for patients who are showing up much sicker than they've ever seen.

Tiffani Dusang, the emergency room's nursing director, practically vibrates with pent-up anxiety, looking at all the patients lying on a long line of stretchers pushed up against the beige walls of the hospital's hallways. "It's hard to watch," she says in her warm Texan twang.

But there's nothing she can do. The ER's 72 rooms are already filled.

[...] Even in parts of the country where COVID-19 isn't overwhelming the health system, patients are showing up to the ER sicker than they were before the pandemic, their diseases more advanced and in need of more complicated care.

Months of treatment delays have exacerbated chronic conditions and worsened symptoms. Doctors and nurses say the severity of illness ranges widely and includes abdominal pain, respiratory problems, blood clots, heart conditions and suicide attempts, among others.

Australian hospitals are already overwhelmed and falling behind, even with the "once-in-a-generation" slowdown in patient numbers that came with COVID-19, an AMA report has found.

[...] According to the report, the number of patients leaving the emergency departments within four hours dropped to 69 per cent, its worst level since 2012–13.

1/ In a press conference on October 31st, 2021, Western Australia Premier Mark McGowan revealed the state's hospital system is under extraordinary pressure.

And they don't know why.

(The state has recorded 1,112 Covid cases in total since the beginning of the pandemic). pic.twitter.com/3daGpzQJRs

— Justin Clarke (@justsee) November 4, 2021