we re experiencing right now at the healthcare forefront. reporter: dr. parker banks is the physician at st. claire health care clinic here. the battle now, the highly infectious omicron karnt, more patients, and some days less staff. so right now, we have probably a 40% reduction in staff currently today. due to covid or covid exposure. with that, everybody else here has to pick up a significant amount. reporter: at st. claire s main hospital in moore head where we visited in september, health-care workers are still battling the virus and false information. i think a lot of our patients just need to be able to be talked to, let them know the truth. um, talk to them and answer their questions because a lot of them are just fearful of it. people you treat, they come in not believing they have it? or what some of them don t believe they have it. they don t believe it s a real thing. i have heard that. reporter: with nearly a third of kentuckians testing now positive for t