Coronavirus sickens nearly 1,000 Cleveland Clinic health care workers

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Surgeon General warns Americans to be 'cognizant of the severity of the moment' as COVID surges

U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams explains what Americans should be doing to stay safe over Thanksgiving amid coronavirus spike across the country.

A health official from Ohio's Cleveland Clinic on Monday said nearly 1,000 of the hospital’s caregivers have been affected by COVID-19.

“We are experiencing close to 1,000 of our caregivers who have been affected by COVID-19 and unable to come in and care for those patients,” Kelly Hancock, chief caregiver officer at Cleveland Clinic, said during an interview on CNBC’s "The News with Shepard Smith."

Hancock’s comments coincided with an announcement from Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Ohio Hospital Association leaders on a record number of hospital admissions and nearly 12,000 new virus cases reported on Monday, though DeWine said two labs had delays in reporting.

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“On Thursday, Ohio hospitals had more than 3,800 COVID-19 patients, which was the highest patient count we had seen so far. Today, we are reporting 4,358 COVID-19 hospitalized patients,” DeWine said Monday, per state health officials. “The virus is quickly spreading throughout our entire state and is dramatically impacting all of our health care zones and their ability to care for patients.”

There are over 1,000 coronavirus patients statewide in intensive care. DeWine took the concern to Twitter, writing: "@OhioHospitals [Ohio Hospital Association] is reporting that we are at 4,358 hospitalized #COVID19 patients as of today. That is a 59% increase from just two weeks ago. We also currently have 1,079 patients who are in the ICU, which is again far higher than we have seen so far during this pandemic."

According to DeWine, Dr. Robert Wyllie with Cleveland Clinic said the 970 caregivers are out due to quarantine or active coronavirus infections, adding, "They are not catching it in the hospital, they are getting it in the community."

However, Hancock credited the large health system in northeast Ohio for adequate bed capacity and staffing.

“We continue to meet frequently throughout the day to continue to assess the situation for both of our caregivers as well as the bed capacity,” she told CNBC. “We’re deeply concerned about the rising cases, and particularly for caregivers.”

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