Health care workers, used to working holidays, add on stress of treating COVID patients

Working on Christmas is nothing new for many doctors, nurses and other first responders. After all, illness and accidents don't take a holiday, and hospitals must staff around the clock, every day of the year.

But in 2020, those stalwarts have an additional challenge: Caring for people during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As coronavirus cases multiply, hospital staff and others on the health care front lines work longer and harder.

"I consider myself lucky to be able to work in this profession, because we can help people and make a difference," said Traci Van-Deventer, of Wake County EMS.

"It can get a little challenging, especially on days like Christmas," she said.

Through Wednesday, the last day on which the state reported data, North Carolina had seen almost 500,000 positive tests for the virus since March. While many who test positive show no symptoms or recover quickly, for 6,360, COVID-19 has proven deadly.

On Wednesday, a record 3,043 people were being treated for coronavirus in hospitals across the state. Almost 700 of those people were in intensive care units.

Across the state, ICU beds are at 83% capacity; overall hospitals beds are 76% full.

Across all UNC Health hospitals, there are more than 400 people being treated for coronavirus, including 75 in the ICU. Those are the highest totals since the pandemic began, Alan Wolf, a spokesperson with UNC Health said.

"Staffing is also a serious concern – we need enough physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists and many others to care for these patients," Wolf said. "It’s putting increasing strain on our workforce, which has been working incredibly hard for many months."

The Capital Regional Healthcare Preparedness Coalition, which includes Wake, Franklin, Johnston, Harnett and Lee Counties, has the fewest available hospital and ICU beds of the eight regions in the state. Only 16 ICU beds are reported available, and only 189 hospital beds of any kind are open and staffed.

Meanwhile, the Duke Healthcare Preparedness Coalition, which includes Durham, Caswell, Person, Granville, Vance, Warren and Robeson counties, has just 21 available ICU beds.

Both hospitals in Johnston County are at full capacity, health officials said. All 20 ICU beds at Johnston Health are occupied and 14 of those people are on ventilators. Before the pandemic, Johnston Health officials said they normally saw between four and five ICU patients a day and ran at most three ventilators.

North Carolina also has averaged a record 6,091 new infections per day over the last week, including 5,609 cases added Wednesday.

Health experts expect coronavirus cases to increase after people either travel or gather with friends and family to celebrate Christmas.