HARRISBURG — Two months after the omicron variant of the coronavirus slammed hospitals with unvaccinated patients, Gov. Tom Wolf signed fast-tracked legislation Wednesday to help keep burned-out health care workers on board during a staffing crisis. The House unanimously approved the bill earlier Wednesday just before Wolf signed it. It authorizes $225 million, mostly for hospitals to give workers retention and recruitment payments.

Of that, about $36 million will go to facilities that provide inpatient behavioral health services.

Another $15 million will go to an oversubscribed program promising nurses up to $7,500 in student loan-debt relief, although officials acknowledged that the extra money still will not satisfy all of the more than 8,000 applications it has received.

The money is from federal pandemic relief signed by President Joe Biden last March.

The 14-day moving average of hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients hit an all-time high of above 7,000 in recent days.