Governor Phil Murphy and health officials said on Monday that hospitals and long-term care facilities in New Jersey are facing a shortage of staff amid the “tsunami” of COVID-19 cases, with the number of hospitalizations increasing by nearly 60% since the end of last month.

Democrat Murphy spoke at a remote press conference during his isolation because his wife tested positive for the virus on Sunday.

“This time the omicron tsunami changed the rules of the game again,” Murphy said. “Take omicron seriously; put on your mask; let your boosters not take an arrogant attitude.”

According to the governor, the number of hospitalizations in the state climbed from nearly 3,000 on December 27 to more than 4,700 on Sunday. Health Commissioner Judy Persichilli said this is because hospitals and nursing homes are facing a shortage of staff. She stated that the shortage was caused by employees taking time off, and added that hospitals and nursing homes plan to reduce staff by at least 30%.

She said the measures being taken by hospitals and nursing homes include plans to increase the shift time from the usual 8 hours to 10 or 12 hours and redeploy administrative staff to work with patients. They also plan to increase the number of patients treated by the team of medical staff from a maximum of 8 patients to 15. Another change includes the use of EMT to vaccinate people so that medical staff at the vaccination point can return to the hospital to relieve staff shortages, she said.

Persichilli added that the State Department of Health and the Office of Emergency Management are also working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help deploy “strike teams” to hospitals and nursing homes, but the details are unclear.

Persichilli said that although the state’s hospitalizations did not reach the 2020 peak, they have already surpassed this level in the southern part of the state.

Persichilli said that, like most other parts of the United States, there has been a surge in positive cases in New Jersey due to holiday gatherings and the virulence of the omicron variant.