Hospitals begin to limp out of the latest COVID-19 surge

A person walks between buildings at the University of Kansas Hospital Friday, Jan. 28, 2022, in Kansas City, Kan. Hospitalizations fueled by the highly contagious omicron variant have begun falling after peaking at record levels in some communities. But doctors are warning that the wave is leaving behind more deferred surgeries and an increasingly worn out health care workforce in its wake. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File) A person walks between buildings at the University of Kansas Hospital Friday, Jan. 28, 2022, in Kansas City, Kan. Hospitalizations fueled by the highly contagious omicron variant have begun falling after peaking at record levels in some communities. But doctors are warning that the wave is leaving behind more deferred surgeries and an increasingly worn out health care workforce in its wake. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

By HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH and DAVE KOLPACK / Associated Press February 9, 2022 5 min read

As omicron numbers drop at Denver Health, Dr. Anuj Mehta is reminded of the scene in the 1980 comedy “The Blues Brothers” when John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd pile out of a battered car after a police chase.

Suddenly, all the doors pop off the hinges, the front wheels fall off and smoke pours from the engine.

“And that’s my fear,” said Mehta, a pulmonary and critical care physician. “I’m worried that as soon as we stop, everything’s just going to fall apart.”

Across the U.S., the number of people in the hospital with COVID-19 has tumbled more than 28% over the past three weeks to about 105,000 on average, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But the ebbing of the omicron surge has left in its wake postponed surgeries, exhausted staff members and uncertainty over whether this is the last big wave or whether another one lies ahead.