Respiratory viruses including COVID and a continuing shortage of healthcare workers has led the state’s biggest hospital, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, to warn that people without life-threatening needs may have to wait as long as 24 hours to get treated at its emergency department in Lebanon.

The hospital said ED staff will continue to prioritize patients who are most urgently in need of care, such as people experiencing a heart attack or stroke, or who are critically injured, Dartmouth Health CEO and president Dr. Joanne Conroy said patients with less pressing healthcare concerns coming to the Emergency Department should expect extended wait times.

“If you must be admitted to the hospital, there are waits, sometimes for up to 24 hours, for inpatient beds,” Conroy said in a video statement released Wednesday. “I understand, and everyone who is working hard to care for you understands, that these wait times are very frustrating. Please know that we’re working hard to address these capacity issues.”

Similar crowding at emergency departments has been reported at a number of other hospitals in New England.