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Minnesota Now with Cathy Wurzer
Cathy Wurzer and Lindsay Guentzel

Doctor speaks up about the plight of health care workers as COVID cases surge

A nurse works on a computer in a hospital room.
A nurse works on a computer while assisting a COVID-19 patient at a hospital in Los Angeles in November 2020. Across the country, doctors and nurses on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic are dealing with hostility, threats and violence from patients angry over safety rules designed to keep the virus from spreading.
Jae C. Hong | AP 2020

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Minnesota has one of the highest rates of COVID-19 infections in the country right now. There are very, very few ICU beds available in the state. Hospitals are delaying surgeries — shoulder surgeries, knee surgeries and even some heart procedures — because of the number of COVID-19 patients taking up beds.

Health care workers are becoming more vocal about their plight. Last Friday, Dr. Brian Hartz took to Facebook to make an impassioned plea on their behalf.

“[T]he hospital needs all of [us], all the time now — that is not something we can do forever,” he wrote.

Hartz is a pulmonologist and critical care physician at Respiratory Consultants and North Memorial Health in Robbinsdale. He told host Cathy Wurzer more about what he and his colleagues are facing.

Hartz said some health care workers are feeling “despondent” and “hopeless,” and he warned listeners about the dangers of severe cases of COVID-19.

Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.

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