Children’s Mercy in KC has more than 400 hospital staff out from work amid COVID surge
Update: Children’s Mercy updated numbers on Monday to report there are 27 patients hospitalized with the virus. Many staff members have been able to return. There were 250 staff who tested positive for COVID-19 and were isolating at home Monday.
Hospitals around the Kansas City metro are grappling with a staffing shortage as workers test positive for the coronavirus in large numbers amid a nationwide surge in cases.
Children’s Mercy in Kansas City is among them, with 427 hospital staff confirmed positive with COVID-19 and under home isolation as of Friday morning, when the most recent count was available.
More of the hospital’s roughly 8,400 employees are out now than in the previous several weeks.
As of 5 a.m. Friday, also the most recent data available, Children’s Mercy had 25 patients hospitalized with the coronavirus. The children ranged in age from infants to teenagers, Lisa Augustine, a spokeswoman with the hospital, said Sunday.
Last week, the hospital saw its highest number of patients with the virus yet while also working with a smaller staff. Thirty children were hospitalized with the coronavirus at the time— the highest number of the entire pandemic.
“In order to ensure the most critical patients receive the care they need, staffing adjustments are being made across the hospital,” Augustine told The Star. “Our Talent Acquisition team is also working closely with leaders on additional creative staffing solutions to assist with the immediate needs as well as continuing our ongoing recruitment for long-term solutions.”
On Tuesday, the seven-day average of new cases across the Kansas City metro hit an all time high, with 14,839 new COVID-19 infections reported in the past week. More than 267,000 coronavirus cases have been identified across the metro since the pandemic began in early 2020. As of Sunday, 3,464 people had died.
This story was originally published January 10, 2022 at 6:47 AM.
