A UCSF doctor explains that because people are struggling to find rapid tests, they are swarming to the ER to get tested, creating longer wait times.
SAN FRANCISCO -- Emergency rooms across the Bay Area are overwhelmed with people trying to get a COVID test, and it's causing longer wait times to triage patients in need of imminent care.
"Everyone is feeling mentally and physically exhausted," said Dr. Maria Raven, UCSF's Chief of Emergency Medicine."We've seen more patients with COVID during the past three weeks to a month than any other time over the past two years.""Every time I'm in the city there are basically ambulance rigs lined up with patients waiting to be triaged," she said.
As Raven and her team are already pressed thin with eight nurses out sick as of Wednesday, her emergency department faces another challenge--people lining up to get COVID tests."How long has that been happening?" ABC7's Stephanie Sierra asked.The ABC7 News I-Team confirmed the problem is occurring in hospital systems across every Bay Area county. It's even causing a backlog triaging patients at San Mateo County General Hospital.
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