Working the COVID wards in Minnesota hospitals on Christmas Eve

[WCCO-TV News, December 24, 2021] On Christmas Eve, health care workers continue to treat an influx of patients in Minnesota hospitals that’s overwhelming the health care system, with more than 1,400 having COVID and thousands more seeking other care.

The capacity crisis is impacting doctors’ and nurses’ ability to care for people who need it, doctors say. On Thanksgiving, U.S. Department of Defense medical teams began working in Minnesota to provide some relief.

By Christmas Eve, they are still working. Now with vaccines and boosters widely available, health care workers are pleading for people to get their shots and mask up to try to ease some of the burden.

Vaccination provides strong protection against serious illness and death.

“It is painful,” said Dr. Steve Biko Onyambu, who works in the ICU at Allina Health's Abbott Northwestern Hospital. “We obviously help everyone – vaccinated or not – but it’s really painful to know this maybe could’ve been avoided.”