Hospitals throughout the region continue to deal with the stress being placed on the system because of the spread of the COVID-19 Delta variant.
Ascension Via Christi Critical Care Director Melanie Haestert tells KMAN that strain is taking a toll on nurses and other health care providers.
With the ICU at Ascension Via Christi in Manhattan seeing between two and four COVID patients over the past few weeks, nurse Natasha Duncan tells KMAN treating them doesn’t mean a quick visit at any time.
Duncan says that trend of unvaccinated patients claiming they wish they had made a different choice is occurring locally.
Hospital CEO Bob Copple tells KMAN that they are seeing an increasing number of people seeking COVID tests in the ER. He says the best approach for getting testing is to take advantage of Riley County’s free testing sites.