Hospitals are hammered and the COVID surge is relentless. âThis one is ramping up to be bigger than the first surge weâve seen,â said Dr. Brad Blaker with McLaren Bay Region. And this time around itâs affecting all ages. Blaker said the youngest COVID patient heâs seen was 6. Itâs been stressful. âEvery day weâre coming in and starting off with high patient volumes and ending the day with high patient volumes,â Blaker said. âIt does stress the team but theyâre holding together very well.â Also keeping their ER flowing is Covenant Healthcare. âOver the last week or so weâve kind of plateaued,â said Dr. Matthew Deibel with Covenant. âAnd as you go into a spike itâs climbing, climbing, climbing. Weâre not seeing that anymore.â