Hogan To Introduce Emergency Legislation To Shore Up Maryland’s Nursing Workforce

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ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) — Pointing to a emergence successful COVID-19 related hospitalizations, Gov. Larry Hogan connected Thursday announced plans to present exigency authorities to assistance Maryland’s hospitals contend with staffing shortages.

The governor, who met earlier successful the time with his pandemic effect team, said officials and nationalist wellness experts are monitoring a caller uptick successful respective cardinal wellness metrics, which person the imaginable to get adjacent worse down the road.

“We’re progressively acrophobic by the crisp emergence successful hospitalizations, which person doubled implicit the past 3 weeks,” Hogan said. “Health officials are besides informing that the convergence of the flu and the Delta and Omicron variants could pb to further spiking metrics and hospitalizations.”

The latest circular of Maryland Department of Health information shows 984 residents are hospitalized with COVID-19, the highest full the authorities has seen since May 1 erstwhile 957 patients were being treated.

“Omicron is believed to beryllium perchance 4 times much transmissible than erstwhile strains of COVID-19, and it is anticipated to rapidly overtake (the Delta variant) arsenic the main operator of caller cases implicit the adjacent 12 weeks,” Hogan said.

Last Friday, the governor’s bureau announced that Maryland had confirmed its archetypal cases of the Omicron variant among 3 people successful the Baltimore region.

Hogan said Thursday the champion mode for Marylanders to support themselves and loved ones from the Omicron variant is getting their COVID-19 booster shots. He said those who trial affirmative should get monoclonal antibody treatments arsenic soon arsenic possible.

To date, the authorities has administered 1.3 cardinal booster doses of the vaccine.

Throughout the pandemic, the politician said, the authorities has taken steps to assistance hospitals header with staffing shortages, including letting nurses who are licensed elsewhere to signifier successful Maryland and asking nursing programs to accelerate graduation for qualified students.

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“The exigency authorities we taxable volition let each of these important exigency actions to beryllium made permanent,” helium said. “The wellness section volition beryllium taking immoderate further contiguous actions successful the days up arsenic we proceed to usage each instrumentality astatine our disposal to assistance Maryland hospitals get the resources they need.”