Baker Talks to the National Guard about Supporting an Overburdened Health Care System – CBS Boston

BOSTON (CBS) – Governors of New Hampshire and Maine on Wednesday Activate the National Guard on Wednesday to help at overcrowded hospitals amid a surge in the novel coronavirus. Will Massachusetts follow suit?

“At this point in the pandemic, I think people should be pretty clear that I’m going to use the National Guard when I think they’re appropriate to do practically anything,” Baker said in response to a question. reporters on Thursday. “We’re talking to them about this.”

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Doctors told WBZ-TV that the current scramble to find patient beds is affecting “every aspect of patient care.” It’s not just coronavirus cases that overload the system, but a perfect storm of patients who are hospitalized longer, have difficulty finding rehabilitation spaces to discharge, and are short on staff.

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Baker said he wanted to make sure that if he called the Guard, he wouldn’t pull Guard members who are healthcare workers out of their jobs.

“If there was a way that we could bring in the Guard and join the Guard as a back-up and support group to support what is happening in the healthcare system, we would certainly Will definitely pursue that and try to put it in place,” said Baker. “But I don’t want to end up in a situation where I’m actually taking ordinary people who are doctors, nurses and the like out of the existing health care system.”

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As of Thursday, 93% of hospital beds and 85% of ICU beds in Massachusetts were filled.