MINOT, ND. (NewsDakota.com) – Dr. Jeffery Sather an Emergency Medicine Physician in Minot spelled out the circumstances that hospitals across North Dakota are facing right now amid the COVID-19 crisis.

He said “we had patients stacking up in our ER. The normal process is that we call around to the larger hospitals that have the same capabilities and ask them to accept our patients. We found no other hospital that could take and care for our patients. That means those patients stack up, and remain in our ER. And then they have to wait until a bed opens up – either at our hospital or at another hospital.

Dr. Sather spelled out what the significant surge in COVID-19 cases in Minot and across North Dakota has done to the health care systems in our state. He said the problem with hospital capacity is not with the number of physical beds available. The problem is that there are not enough medical professionals to care for the increase in patients. And because there has been a surge in cases across the nation, any hopes that more medical staff can be brought in from out of state are just not there. Dr. Sather said at this time, “there is no cavalry to come in and save us.”