Beds for patients awaiting examination that are not suspected of being Covid-19 positive stand inside a converted chapel area at Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Community Hospital in the Willowbrook neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Beds for patients awaiting examination that are not suspected of being Covid-19 positive stand inside a converted chapel area at Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Community Hospital in the Willowbrook neighborhood of Los Angeles, California.

Omicron is surging. That means hospitals are filling up... again. Medical centers were already short-staffed. Now, things have progressed to the point that governors in 10 states have called in the National Guard to help.

That also means it's a pretty bad time to need an ICU bed if you don't have COVID-19. Dozens of hospitals across the country started the year by delaying routine surgeries... again.

That includes a much-needed heart surgery for Maggie Frye's five-month-old son. He has a congenital heart condition, but his surgeries kept getting delayed. Then omicron hit.

He is just one of millions of people worldwide who have had surgeries delayed or canceled since the pandemic started. How can hospitals bounce back from omicron? What do all these delays mean for hospitals and patients?

Dr. Megan Ranney, Akin Demehin, and Maggie Frye join us for the conversation. Like what you hear? Find more of our programs online.