Doctors at North Memorial Health Hospital in Minnesota treat a COVID-19 patient.Photo: Aaron Lavinsky/Star Tribune via Getty Images
“We’re heartbroken. We’re overwhelmed.”
That’s the message doctors and staff at a group of Minnesota hospitals is sending to residents in the state,begging for them to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
On Sunday, the hospital staffers took out a full-page ad in theMinneapolis Star Tribunewith those words in bold font and emphasized that “the situation is critical.”
“Our emergency departments are overfilled, and we have patients in every bed in our hospitals,” they said. “This pandemic has strained our operations and demoralized many people on our teams.”
Minnesota currently has the third-most COVID-19 cases per capita in the U.S. and is nearly out of hospital beds. On Monday, they reported 3,646 new cases, a 15% increase over the last two weeks,according toThe New York Times. Around 70% of residents have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 64% are fully vaccinated.
The hospital staffers said that they cannot properly care for people coming in with injuries from car accidents or those with cancer, stroke, appendicitis and other illnesses because of the high number of COVID-19 patients. They emphasizedthat this is preventable, if people would just get vaccinated.
The staffers added advice to residents,asking them to get vaccinatedand get a booster dose if eligible, wear a mask “even if you’re vaccinated” and socially distance, get tested for COVID-19 if they feel sick and encourage others to do the same.
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“The full-page ad that some of Minnesota’s hospital and health system leaders signed is a dire yet accurate summary of the situation here in Minnesota,” Minnesota Hospital Association President and CEO Rahul Korannetold CNN. “Our health care heroes are exhausted, heartbroken, and overwhelmed after running this relentless ultramarathon for 22 months each day, evening and night.”
Minnesota is one of several states dealing yet again with a spike in COVID-19 cases. Most of the Midwest and the northeast are overwhelmed with new infections as delta continues to spread and thenew, highly contagious variant omicronnow in the U.S. Nationwide, cases are up to around 120,000 a day, a 49% increase in the last two weeks,according to theTimes.
Currently, 72% of Americans have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 61% are fully vaccinated.
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source: people.com
