Ambulances in Kansas raced toward the hospital, then abruptly changed direction because the hospital was full. Staff shortages in New York City have led to delays in litter and subway service and reduced the ranks of firefighters and emergency responders. Airport officials closed security checkpoints at Phoenix’s largest terminal, and schools across the country struggled to find teachers.

A surge in coronavirus infections caused by omicrons right now in the U.S. has disrupted essential functions and services — the latest example of how COVID-19 continues to upend life more than two years after the pandemic.

“I think it really reminds everyone of when COVID-19 first emerged, and every aspect of our normal lives has been so disrupted,” said Tom Cotter, head of emergency response and preparedness at the Global Health Organization. . Profit Project Hope. “The unfortunate reality is that it’s impossible to predict what’s going to happen next until we see an uptick in vaccination numbers globally.”

First responders, hospitals, schools and government agencies have adopted an all-hands approach to keep the public safe, but they worry about how long they can hold out.

In Johnson County, Kansas, healthcare workers work 80 hours a week. Ambulances are often forced to change routes when the hospital they are going to tells them they are overwhelmed and unable to help, confounding the already anxious family members of patients who are driving behind them. When the ambulance arrived at the hospital, some of their emergency patients ended up in the waiting room because there were no beds.

When leaders at a rural hospital had nowhere to send dialysis patients this week, hospital staff checked a textbook and “tried to put in some catheters and diagrams,” said Dr. Steve Stitters, chief medical officer at the University of Kansas Hospital. know how.”

Medical facilities have been hit with a “double whammy,” he said. The number of COVID-19 patients at the University of Kansas Hospital increased from 40 on Dec. 1 to 139 on Friday. Meanwhile, more than 900 employees had COVID-19 or were awaiting test results — 7% of the hospital’s 13,500 staff.

“My hope, what we’re going to pray for, is that when it peaks…maybe it’s going to drop as quickly as we’ve seen in South Africa,” Stites said, referring to the country’s case count decline. “We don’t know. That’s just hope.”

The omicron variant spreads more easily than other coronavirus strains and has become dominant in many countries. It is also more likely to infect those who have been vaccinated or who have previously been infected with the virus. However, early research suggests that omicrons are less likely to cause severe disease than previous delta variants, and that vaccination and booster immunizations still provide strong protection against severe disease, hospitalization and death.

Still, its easy transmissibility has led to a surge in cases in the U.S., which is affecting businesses, government offices and the public service.

In downtown Boise, Idaho, customers lined up outside a dispensary ahead of its opening Friday morning, and it didn’t take long for the big dispensary to line up. Pharmacies have come under fire for staffing shortages, either because staff get sick or leave altogether.

Anecia Mascorro, a pharmacy technician, said that before the pandemic, the Sav-On pharmacy she worked at always had prescriptions ready for the next day. Now, it takes longer to process the influx of hundreds of orders.

“The demand is crazy — everyone isn’t getting their scripts fast enough, so they keep transferring to us,” Mascoro said.

In Los Angeles, more than 800 police and firefighters had been sidelined by the virus as of Thursday, resulting in slightly longer ambulance and fire response times.

In New York City, officials have had to delay or scale back trash and subway services due to the attrition caused by the virus. About a fifth of subway operators and conductors, or 1,300, have been absent in recent days, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said. Health Commissioner Edward Grayson said almost a quarter of the city’s health department workers were sick Thursday.

“Everyone was working around the clock, 12-hour shifts,” Grayson said.

The city’s fire department has also adjusted for absenteeism. Officials said Thursday that 28% of EMS workers went out sick, compared with about 8% to 10% under normal circumstances. The number of absent firefighters was double the usual number.

In contrast, the police department’s prevalence has declined over the past week, officials said.

At Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, two checkpoints at the airport’s busiest terminal were closed because there weren’t enough Transportation Security Administration agents onsite to work, according to statements from airport and TSA officials.

Meanwhile, schools from coast to coast are trying to maintain face-to-face instruction despite large teacher absences. In Chicago, a tense standoff between the school district and teachers’ union over distance learning and COVID-19 safety protocols has led to the cancellation of classes for the past three days. In San Francisco, nearly 900 educators and aides called in sick Thursday.

In Hawaii, where public schools are part of a statewide school district, 1,600 teachers and staff were absent Wednesday due to illness or an early scheduled vacation or vacation. The state’s teachers’ union has criticized education officials for not being better prepared for the vacancies that come with it. Osa Tui Jr., head of the Hawaii State Teachers Association, said counselors and security were pulled “to look after the classroom.”

“It’s very inappropriate,” Tui said in a news conference. “There’s this model, with so many teachers coming out and having the department say, ‘Send your child’ to a classroom without a teacher, what’s the point of that?”

In New Haven, Connecticut, with hundreds of teachers out every day this week, administrators helped cover classrooms. Some teachers say they appreciate this, but it can be confusing for students, adding to the physical and mental stress they are already feeling because of the pandemic.

“We’ve had so many tests. How much can a rubber band pull here?” asked Leslie Blatteau, president of the New Haven Teachers Federation.