Wildfires in Colorado that destroyed more than 1,000 homes last month forced the temporary closure of a hospital and upended the lives of health care workers as the state’s already strained health care system braces for another surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations.

Avista Adventist Hospital In Louisville, a community outside Boulder that was hit hard by a wildfire that erupted on Dec. 30 was closed due to devastation from the smoke, and officials have yet to announce when it will reopen. In addition, at least 36 people in the area who worked in hospitals lost their homes, while others whose homes were damaged by the smoke may not be able to return.

The temporary loss of a 114-bed hospital out of more than 25 hospitals in the Denver-Boulder metro area is usually not a cause for concern. But the state’s health care system is nearing saturation at this point, health workers are stressed by a nearly two-year-old pandemic, and hospitalizations are rising as the omicron variant causes a new spike in COVID cases.

“For months, we’ve been stretched to capacity,” said Kara Welch, a spokeswoman for the Colorado Hospital Association. “Most of our ICU and acute care beds are over 90 percent capacity. So any loss of beds is challenging. sexual.”

On Jan. 7, there was a 37% increase in COVID hospitalizations compared to the recent low of 1,055 hospitalizations on Dec. 25.about 94% of acute care beds As of January 7, the beds are full. Bed capacity reflects not only actual beds, but also the medical staff needed to support these patients. Colorado may not see a peak in omicron surges for several weeks, and it’s hard to predict how many people could be hospitalized, state health officials said.

“While bed availability remains at worrisome levels across the state and across all hospital systems, the state is closely monitoring the impact of the Marshall Fire,” said a spokesperson for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. Annemarie Harper said in an email.

The highly transmissible variant led to a surge in cases in the U.S. and Colorado, but not a disproportionate rise in hospitalizations. Still, the sheer number of new cases translated into a significant increase in hospitalizations.The number of COVID patients hospitalized in the U.S. has increased by more than 50% in the past two weeks, according to data New York Times Covid Tracker.

“A small fraction of a large population is still a large population,” he said Caitlin Jetlina, epidemiologist University of Texas Health Sciences Center at Houston.

Marshall’s Fire kill at least one person and Destroy 550 homes in Louisville, 378 in the nearby Superior community and 156 in the unincorporated area of ??Boulder County. Seven business structures Destroyed, 30 other businesses and 149 homes damaged.

Video of the Avista Adventist Hospital parking lot during the Marshall Fire. (Century Health)

Staff at Avista Adventist Hospital feared the worst for a period of time on December 30. Wind gusts of more than 100 mph pushed the winter blaze directly into the Centura Health-owned community hospital, where the flames moved fast and blazing embers ignited homes and businesses in the surrounding community.

Hospital workers used buckets and hoses to douse flames that ignited a digital range of flammable liquid oxygen tanks outside the building. Inside, doctors and nurses moved 51 patients to safety before ambulances took them to nearby hospitals or discharged them.

“The fire was intense and it was moving so fast. The fact that we are here is nothing short of a miracle,” said the president and CEO Isaac Senderos Talking about two hours of ordeal.

The homes of the few employees who worked that afternoon were in the direct path of the fire. Senderos said they selflessly stayed to care for the sick after making sure their families were safe.

Now, reopening safely as soon as possible is the priority, he said, although he did not provide an estimate of when that might happen. The hospital has no running water. Senderos said a 100-person crew was working to repair the smoke damage and staff had been temporarily reassigned to hospitals in the Centura area.

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“The sooner we reopen, the sooner we can help our communities recover,” he said.

Welch confirmed that the Marshall Fire is putting additional pressure on already stretched health care workers. “Community transmission in omicron is very high, so staff are sick and quarantined, and on top of that, we are also affected by fires. There are a lot of factors that are driving staffing issues right now,” she said.

On Dec. 30, Shelley Shields, a forensic nurse examiner at St. Anthony North Hospital just minutes from the Louisville Hospital, received a text message from her boss at her home reminding her of the growing threat of the fire.

Shields at her home near Coal Creek Ranch in Louisville with her husband and two teenagers. Thick smoke billowed, ashes floated in the air. They turned off the house’s stove, donned masks, frantically collected childhood photos and other memorabilia, and ran away with their dogs, cats and hamsters.

“We thought we’d be home the next day,” Shields said. Instead, they returned on January 3 to find the house destroyed.

The hospital and her husband’s employer allowed them to take time off and consider their next steps. She said dealing with the aftermath of the fire has only added to the enormous stress she and other healthcare workers have been under due to the pandemic.

She doesn’t know when she will be able to go back to work, and hospital officials say she can take time off as needed.

“It was incredible. It was one thing after another. It was overwhelming,” Shields said.

Kaiser Health News is a national health policy news service. It is an independent editorial project of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, which is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.