LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — While cases and hospitalizations remain high in our state, emergency rooms are beginning to feel the burden.
Emergency departments across Arkansas began to experience higher than normal volumes a couple of weeks ago.
Dr. Rawle Seupaul, Chief Clinical Officer for UAMS, said what they are seeing inside the ER right now is 'scarily similar' to last summer's surge.
"I'm hopeful every day that we've reached our peak and then it turns out to not be the case," he said.
While hospitals get crowded again, as the Omicron variant spreads across the state, Seupaul said emergency departments are now dealing with a similar issue.
"We're experiencing higher than normal volumes. We've seen a large uptick in daily volumes, including our weekends and throughout the night," he said.
According to Seupaul, COVID patients and people who have delayed certain care are filling up emergency rooms.
"About a third of our patients, who end up being diagnosed with COVID, arrive at our emergency department for other reasons that are completely unrelated to COVID," he said.
The trends are similar at CHI St. Vincent in Little Rock.
Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Gerry Jones, said there's another factor causing the current rush.
"A large number of people, who are concerned about being exposed, and who are asking for testing," he said.
Dr. Jones said people coming to the ER for COVID-19 testing, creates a burden in two different ways.
"Number one, it's additional people that need to be seen that take up time and resources and, number two, it's using up more and more tests," he said.
To help reduce this load, Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System Public Affairs Officer Chris Durney, said the VA Hospital in Little Rock has a 'Park and Swab' set up right outside their emergency department.
"That's something that we did very early on because we know that we want to keep our facilities clear for people who have both COVID and other issues need to be taken care of," he said.
While no one knows when this will end, hospital officials say the best thing we can do right now is protect one another.
"Let's all do all we can to get over this surge very quickly. Wear your mask, get vaccinated, get boosted, get this behind us," Durney said.
Just to put into perspective how much more volume these hospital emergency departments are experiencing right now, according to Durney, the VA Hospital in Little Rock usually sees anywhere from 450 to 500 people in a week.
Right now, he said, that number is closer to 900.