The daily average of COVID-19 hospitalizations in the U.S. has hit 100,00 for the first time since last winter, The New York Times reported.
Hospitalizations have risen almost 500 percent in the past two months, the Times added, with intensive care unit (ICU) beds filling up in many southern states.
According to data from the Department of Health and Human Services, Florida, one of the epicenters of the new wave, which is driven by the highly contagious delta variant, has 17,961 people hospitalized with COVID-19-related symptoms.
Alabama was one of the first states in the country to run out of ICU beds, the Times noted, and the University of Tennessee Medical Center (UTMC) requested assistance from the National Guard due to full capacity.
UTMC’s Shannon Byrd told the newspaper that she has never seen anything like this before, adding that the latest COVID-19 wave is tearing families apart.
“It’s bringing whole families down and tearing families apart. They’re dying in droves and leaving surviving loved ones with a lot of funerals to go to,” Byrd said.
Hospitals across the nation were forced to create makeshift ICU beds in areas designated for other types of care, the Times added.
Ijlal Babar, Singing River Health System director of pulmonary critical care, described his frustration with families of patients during an interview with the newspaper.
“The families, you don’t see them going out and talking about the benefits of vaccine,” the coastal Mississippi doctor said. “Nobody brings it up, nobody expresses any remorse. It’s just something that they absolutely do not believe in.”
According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, 61 percent of eligible Americans have received one dose of the vaccine, with 52 percent being fully vaccinated.
More than 637,540 people have died from COVID-19 complications in the U.S and 38,779,396 million virus cases have been reported, according to John Hopkins University data.