Delta Variant Sweeps Thru the Country
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
- The delta variant is sweeping through the country, with one in five intensive care units across the country at or above 95 percent capacity and seven states experiencing more hospitalizations than their prior peaks. [NYT / Albert Sun and Giulia Heyward]
- For health care workers, the new surge is overwhelming and draining, particularly given that the vast majority of hospitalizations they see are among unvaccinated people. [Stat News / Lev Facher]
- Forty-six states have seen double-digit growth in hospitalizations; nearly all the patients have contracted the delta variant and are unvaccinated. People who were finally getting care for non-Covid health conditions are being told to wait — again. [Washington Post / Frances Stead Sellers, Ariana Eunjung Cha, Hannah Knowles, and Derek Hawkins]
- In Louisiana, hospitals are so full of Covid patients that people with other conditions have had to be treated at home. Hospital personnel believe they are days away from having to refuse transport to hospitals. [CBS News]
- Florida, which has seen an explosion of cases, is also struggling with capacity. A viral photo of a clinic in Jacksonville shows patients waiting for monoclonal antibody therapy lying on the ground in pain, with the number of people exceeding the number of chairs. [Florida Times-Union / Katherine Lewin]
- Alabama has a net negative number of ICU beds, causing patient traffic jams as people who've had heart attacks or been in car accidents have to be diverted to other hospitals. [Montgomery Advertiser / Melissa Brown]