Covid is still keeping hospitals backed up, even as new admissions stay low
CNN
Covid patients aren't directly overwhelming hospitals right now, but ripple effects of the pandemic are keeping beds full and patients away from the care they need.
Most nursing homes are limiting new patients because of staffing shortages, driving the average hospital stay up to be longer than it was pre-pandemic.
In Washington, about 10% of patients currently in hospital beds no longer need hospital care, said Cassie Sauer, chief executive officer of the Washington State Hospital Association. Most are waiting for a spot at a nursing home or mental health facility.
Senate Democrats have confirmed some of President Joe Biden’s picks for the federal bench this week in the face of President-elect Donald Trump’s calls for a total GOP blockade of judicial nominations – in part because several Republicans involved with the Trump transition process have been missing votes.
Donald Trump is considering a right-wing media personality and people who have served on his US Secret Service detail to run the agency that has been plagued by its failure to preempt two alleged assassination attempts on Trump this summer, sources familiar with the president-elect’s thinking tell CNN.