With the COVID infections in Western New York reaching some of the highest numbers during the pandemic, the fallout is being seen in hospitals.
"We are really in a mess. There's just no question and I think everybody has to understand that," said Dr. Nancy Nielsen, Senior Associate Dean for Health Policy at UB's Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
Governor Hochul's executive order is shutting down all elective surgery at seven regional hospitals.
"This is a disaster for the hospitals," said Nielsen. Most facilities are either at capacity or above capacity.
"That's because they can't move patients who ought to be in long-term care settings out of the hospital so there's a logjam. And why can't they do that? Because of staffing at the nursing homes."
The governor has sent National Guard personnel who are EMT equivalents to help out at Terrace View Long-Term Care Facility on the ECMC Campus. The move, Nielsen says, only addresses part of the problem.
"It is really bad and it's going to get worse unless people change their behavior."
