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June 28, 2021 – As most of the United States emerges from the pandemic, COVID-19 cases are increasing in Missouri, especially in areas where few people are vaccinated.
The Delta variant is spreading at an alarming rate, and hospital intensive care beds are going to young, unvaccinated patients, The Associated Press reported.
“If people elsewhere in the country look to us and say, ‘No thanks’ and they get vaccinated, that’s fine,” Erik Frederick, executive director of Mercy Hospital Springfield, who has seen a leap in COVID-19 patients, the AP said.
“We’ll be the canary,” he said.
Missouri now leads the country with the highest rate of new COVID-19 infections, according to at The New York Times. The increase in cases is greatest in agricultural areas in the north and southwest of the state, including Springfield and Branson. At the same time, less than 40% of people are vaccinated in these counties.
The number of cases is still lower than the winter push, but the trajectory is steeper. Missouri health officials reported more than 900 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, jumping to numbers last seen in February, according to to Fox 2 now. The seven-day average is above 500 daily cases for the first time since early May.
In addition, more than 150 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized at two Springfield hospitals this week, up from around 30 last month. The patients are younger, with around 60% under 40, Frederick told the AP. Her hospital hires traveling nurses and respiratory therapists to help healthcare workers cope with burnout.
“I feel like last year around this time they were ‘health heroes’, and everyone was partying and bringing food to the hospital and doing prayer vigils and everything, and now everyone is thinking, “The lake is open. Let’s go, ”he said. “We’re always here to do that. “
Low vaccination rates could cause outbreaks in other states, the AP reported. Across the southern Missouri border, areas of Arkansas also have low vaccination rates and reported the largest increase in cases this week compared to the past three months.
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