Omicron Surge Is Undermining Care For Other Health Problems

Roger Strukhoff was being treated for intestinal bleeding at a hospital outside Chicago this month when he suffered a mild heart attack. Normally, the 67-year-old would have been sent to the intensive care unit. But Strukhoff said it was overrun with COVID-19 patients, and the staff instead had to wheel a heart monitor into his room and quickly administer nitroglycerin and morphine. “A doctor I know pretty well said, ‘Roger, we’re going to have to improvise right here,'” said Strukhoff, who lives in DeKalb, Illinois. The omicron surge this winter has not only swamped U.S.