COVID-19 hospitalizations throughout the state have reached their highest point since January. Staffing shortages are forcing nurses to take on a heavier workload.   

According to doctors at Bridgeport Hospital, COVID-19 patients make up about 20% of their total patients. 

They say as nurses and doctors test positive and have to quarantine, staffing is becoming more challenging. 

Internal medicine specialist at Bridgeport Hospital Dr. Gregory Buller says they’re used to operating at or near capacity, but when you don’t have the staff, it becomes harder to operate. 

“Right now, we're holding people in our emergency department,” explains Buller. “When you don't have the staff to even staff at capacity, much less over capacity, that's where the challenge occurs." 

Doctors at Bridgeport Hospital say usually they try to have one nurse for every five or six patients. With the staffing shortages, they have now had to go one nurse to seven or eight patients.  

Yale New Haven Health Nuvance and Hartford Healthcare say they have no immediate plans to scale back routine procedures like they did in early 2020. 

Hospitals say while admissions are up, the number of patients that need to be moved to the ICU is lower than previous waves.