Doctors Say COVID Moving Like “Runaway Freight Train” In Ohio Putting Strain On Hospitals

Published November 24, 2020 at 1:30 PM EST

Doctors say Ohioans need to change behaviors to stop the surge in COVID-19. [Simfalex/Shutterstock]

Governor Mike DeWine and lead doctors of Ohio's Hospital Zones convened a special news conference yesterday raising another warning about how much the pandemic is impacting our medical centers and our healthcare workers. The state tallied 11,800 new cases yesterday. Some of those cases numbers were due to a backlog in confirming positive tests.

The delay in keeping up with case counts underscores how quickly the virus is spreading. Each of the zone doctors said the strain in keeping up with the increasing number of patients is difficult.

"The growth is exponential at this point, and it's not that we're planning for the surge, the surge is here,” said Dr. Richard Lofgren, MD of UC Health.

Dr. Robert Wylie, MD, of The Cleveland Clinic told Ohioans, “the Cleveland Clinic system alone today, and this was echoed in the other systems, we have 970 caregivers out, and they're out because they're either on quarantine, or they have active COVID infection.”

“We're gonna see hospitalizations continue to rise, so I think we can't sound the alarm bell loud enough to the people of Ohio, to change their behavior,” said Dr. Andrew Thomas, MD, of Wexner Medical Center.

During the pandemic, many of us have experience job insecurity, changed jobs or lost jobs. In our third chapter of our in-depth reporting project, “Inside the Bricks: Woodhill Homes,” Ideastream’s Justin Glanville explores the issue with residents and delves into how they navigate the complexities of government policies that sometimes seem to punish hard work.

Woodhill Homes located on Cleveland's East Side first opened in 1940 and may be getting a complete rebuild in the next few years.

Our series is also being released as a podcast called "Inside the Bricks: Woodhill Homes," which you can download wherever you get your podcasts.

Ideastream wants to hear from you about this series. Do you like hearing these kinds of stories of everyday life? Go to ideastream.org/homes and click the first link to take the Homes Survey.

- Justin Glanville, Reporter/Producr, Ideastream