RICHMOND, Va. — A Central Virginia emergency department physician predicted intensive care unit beds to be filled in about a month during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Carlton Stadler serves as a member of the Virginia College of Emergency Physicians and oversees local emergency departments.

During an interview with CBS 6 on March 16, Dr. Stadler described the emergency room as “business as usual, but it’s controlled chaos. There’s some level of controlled fear.”

Nearly two weeks later, he said providers in hospitals are “tired.”

“We are assuming every patients has coronavirus at this point,” Stadler explained. “Now we have concern that what’s happening to this patient is happening to them, also.”

He said nurses, doctors and hospital staff wearing personal protective equipment for the entirety of their shifts has taken a toll.

“I think a lot of providers feel if they’re standing on a beach and they can see a tidal wave are coming,” Stadler stated.

Dr. Carlton Stadler

Numerous CBS 6 viewers have described the difficult with finding providers that will test them for coronavirus.

“If you’re walking and talking and don’t have to be admitted to the hospital, then it’s a little bit more difficult to get that test,” Stadler said. “We are conserving them for those patients that are needed.”

In the next two weeks, Stadler predicted that hospital staff may begin to be diagnosed with the novel coronavirus.

“I think that will start to chip away at some of the strength of the providers in the department,” he explained. “Two weeks from that — the prediction we are going to be saturated. Our intensive care unit beds are going to saturated. That’s when we are going to run into a ventilator problem.”

Local systems like VCU Health have begun the process of converting the Honors College on West Grace Street into nearly 180 hospital beds among other facilities. The former hospital will be

used as overflow housing for patients not diagnosed with COVID-19, according to VCU officials.

Stadler stressed the importance of social distancing, sheltering in place, washing your hands, and staying home when you’re sick.

“Staying at home prevents the spread of this disease throughout the community where it’s most dangerous. It’s less predictable and we are seeing more and more of those cases now,” Stadler explained.

“Staying at home prevents the spread of this disease throughout the community where it’s most dangerous. It’s less predictable and we are seeing more and more of those cases now,” Stadler explained.