An empty exam room is seen at the Cleveland County Health Department in Norman. [Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman]

Oklahoma City — In some county health departments in Oklahoma, staffing is so tight that the regional administrator is staffing the front desk to keep clinics open at least a few days a week.

The staffing shortage has forced clinics to reduce the number of people they serve and to delay visits.

A spreadsheet comparing visits in April this year with the same period a year ago found clinics saw about 4,800 fewer people than they did last year, for a combined 6,600 fewer visits and nearly 35,000 fewer individual services performed. The statistics don't include certain children's programs, which state officials said didn't yet have reliable numbers because of delays in data collection.

Visits also declined from April 2016 to April 2017, but not nearly as much as they did in the last year.