WORCESTER — The president and CEO of UMass Memorial Health in Worcester says hospitals in central Massachusetts and across the state are dealing with a surge in COVID-19 cases that is only expected to get worse in the weeks ahead.

Dr. Eric Dickson told Boston 25 Morning News on Wednesday that the UMass Memorial trauma center “is running at about 110 percent of its bed capacity. That means of the 400 beds that exist for med/surgical purposes, we have 440 patients that need them, so we have 40 patients waiting in the emergency department for beds.”

As a result of a surge in new COVID-19 cases in Worcester, UMass Memorial Health is increasing the number of days it will provide free testing at the Mercantile Center in Worcester.

On Wednesday city officials announced that UMass will begin offering free COVID testing four days next week.

"I don't know how anyone could believe that allowing the most expensive, largest health care system in the state to expand at the expense of smaller, less expensive health care systems could reduce the cost of health care in the state," said Dr. Eric Dickson, CEO of UMass Memorial Health. "It just doesn't pass the sniff test."

Gov. Charlie Baker announced Tuesday he is activating up to 500 members of the National Guard to assist hospitals with the COVID-19 surge and updating the state's mask advisory.

The state Department of Public Health released an updated mask advisory Tuesday urging all individuals, regardless of vaccination status, to wear a mask or face covering in indoor public spaces.

FITCHBURG — Rollstone Bank & Trust announced Friday a donation of $50,000 to the UMass Memorial Health’s HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital to expand local complementary care resources to cancer patients, according to a press release from the bank.

The donation will also be used to increase access to those most vulnerable populations that historically do not have access to life-saving preventative measures or subsequent cancer care.

The COVID pandemic took a drastic toll on an already struggling and underfunded behavioral healthcare system. In the wake of lockdowns, a greater need for psychiatric help is often met with endless waiting lists and bed shortages.

Since November, hospitals have understaffing, an escalation of behavioral health cases, and a worsening of a variety of diseases from over a year of delayed care. Now the surge in Covid-19 cases is spurring some hospitals to refuse to patients from other systems, close outpatient units and prepare “crisis standards of care.”

Lots of attention has been paid to Massachusetts’ unprecedented spending, made possible by once-in-a-lifetime federal largesse to pay for COVID-19-related needs. Behind the scenes, Massachusetts has also been saving.

The comptroller’s annual report for fiscal 2021, which ended June 30, reveals that Massachusetts’ stabilization fund is the largest it has ever been since the fund was established in 1986. The rainy day fund clocked in at $4.6 billion in fiscal 2021, a huge jump from $3.5 billion the prior year.

DOUGLAS BROWN, president of UMass Memorial Community Hospitals, put it bluntly: “We’re going through the worst staffing crisis in our history.” 

Yet, UMass fired more than 200 employees earlier this month, many of them working in clinical care. The reason: those employees did not comply with the health system’s mandate to get vaccinated against COVID-19.