Fort Wayne hospitals feeling the strain of increasing COVID-19 cases

The latest COVID-19 surge is putting a strain on local health care workers.

Continue our team coverage tonight with a look at how the latest surge is putting a strain on local health care workers.

Fox 55's jentill neal spoke to local hospitals about how they're managing despite the challenges.

3 allen county ... now in the red.

Health commissioner doctor matthew sutter says they're now seeing 400 covid-19 cases a day.

> 05:50:37-05:50:43"400 will be 800.

If we don't make changes it'll be 1,600 and that trend will continue."causing the health commissioner to issue a public health order.> 05:51:28-05:51:36"you should stay home.

This is added to our positvity rate and our positivity rate is now at 17% as of yesterday."local hospitals say they're feeling the strain ... now moving into surge capacity planning in case they become overwhelmed.parkview health doctor jeff board says it's already impacting their staff ... many of whom have had to quarantine.

> 06:05:56-06:06:05"they're tired.

They're picking up extra shifts, working longer hours to make sure that we provide the essential care and services that our community needs."healthcare workers who test positive must quarantine for at least 10 days even if they don't have symptoms. they have to be fever free for 24 hours before they can come back.dr. boord says they do have the resources for workers to work from home when needed.

>06:08:09-06:08:19"we have many healthcare workers that are not doing in person services that provide essential support for our operations."dr. vishal bhatia at lutheran health network says no one should take the virus lightly.

>06:02:09-06:02:19" i strongly urge our community to first of all, i have to say not ignore the signs and symptoms of medical emergencies."by following the order, the hope is to ease the strain.in fort wayne, jentill neal fox 55 news the order goes into effect november 22 at 12 a-m