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WORCESTER, Mass. — Massachusetts health care workers are exhausted as they try to navigate the unprecedented number of COVID-19 cases fueled by the omicron surge.

It's one reason why Dr. Eric Dickson, chief executive at UMass Memorial Health in Worcester left his office, put on protective gear, and got to work.

UMass Memorial Health President and CEO Dr. Eric Dickson is pleading with his team leaders to voluntarily redeploy administrative staff to support the system’s coronavirus testing sites at the Mercantile Center in Worcester and the New England Sports Center in Marlborough, according to an internal memo circulated mid-afternoon on Friday.

WORCESTER, Mass. — A COVID-19 testing site in Worcester made an emergency call for staffing help Friday night

The UMass Memorial Health President and CEO Dr. Eric Dickson said the Mercantile Center in Worcester and the testing site at the New England Sports Center in Marlboro, both need more workers to help run the operations.

Virtually all COVID-19 cases in Massachusetts are now resulting from the omicron variant. It took over in hospitals in late December, according to an analysis from Cambridge Health Alliance. It’s still early in the omicron surge, but it’s coming on fast, so we asked several doctors and nurses what they are seeing with omicron, to get a sense of how patients are faring and how this surge compares to prior waves of COVID.

WORCESTER — Wednesday marked a grim record in the city's ongoing battle with COVID-19.

With 3,513 new cases since last week's press conference, the city is shattering records for transmission.

WORCESTER, Mass. - In just one week, the City of Worcester has reported its highest one day increase, one week increase and seven-day average of COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic.

Since last week, Worcester reports 3,513 new confirmed positive cases, adding to the city’s total of 38,342 cases since March 2020. On Wednesday alone, the city reported 1,094 new cases. 

Hospital officials in Massachusetts are warning that intensive care unit (ICU) beds are nearing capacity as the state's positivity rate nearly doubled in a week due to the highly contagious Omicron variant.

"I was searching for an ICU bed for one of our patients, and every single facility is full. They are at full capacity. They have no ICU beds left," Dr. Melisa Lai-Becker, the medical director for the emergency department at Cambridge Health Alliance's Everett Hospital, told WGBH on Monday.

“I think it’s the right move,” said Dr. Eric Dickson, CEO of UMass Memorial Health. “I support their decision. And we are actively considering it …. Once we’re through this latest surge — the worst of the three — we will likely follow suit.”

The website for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention includes scores of bullet points and lists on how best to protect friends and family from COVID-19.

Regardless of the tab or sections, the information boils down to the same thing: get vaccinated.