These 8 States Have "Out of Control" COVID Outbreak

The coronavirus pandemic is raging, and Americans are raging against it. The question is, how many will get vaccinated. According to a CNN analysis of data from the US Department of Health and Human Services, "eight states, many of which have lagged the national average for vaccinations, have Covid-19 patients that account for at least 15% of their overall hospitalizations." These stats are straining to keep up with this surge. Read on to see which states are on the list—and to ensure your health and the health of others, don't miss these Sure Signs You Have "Long" COVID and May Not Even Know It.

"An ongoing COVID-19 surge is pushing Montgomery-area hospitals to their limits, with patients filling four ICU units in the River Region by Thursday evening as frontline workers scramble to flex dwindling resources across the state," says the Montgomery Advertiser. "Jackson Hospital and Baptist Health said their facilities have been on diversion this week, meaning capacity is filled enough that hospitals must divert incoming patients to other hospitals."

"Claire White, 27, an intensive care unit nurse at Mercy Hospital Northwest Arkansas, used to care for one or two ICU patients a day. Now, as the delta variant of the coronavirus sweeps through the state, her workload has increased to three Covid patients a day, many of whom are on ventilators and need round-the-clock assistance," reports NBC News. "While it was unusual to see patients under 60 in the ICU last year, this summer White has been caring regularly for patients in their 40s and 50s at the hospital in Rogers. She feels overwhelmed and exhausted, particularly because she knows this wave might not have occurred if more people had been vaccinated."

"The delta variant of COVID-19 is different, more contagious, and it is fueling a record-high wave of virus in Florida that is rapidly impacting its children," reports South Florida's NBC Channel 6. "Florida's plight was a top item on Thursday's agenda of the White House COVID Response Team." "In the past week, Florida has had more COVID cases than all 30 states with the lowest case rates combined," said the team coordinator, Jeff Zients. "And Florida and Texas alone have accounted for 40% of new hospitalization across the country." "We are seeing people testing positive in higher numbers than I think most people anticipated," said Governor Ron DeSantis. "It's airborne. It's aerosolized," he said of the delta variant. 

"As more people become infected with COVID-19 during the latest surge in cases, the risk of long-term symptoms developing months later should not be ignored, doctors say," says WSBTV. "Common long-term symptoms include "brain fog" or difficulty remembering basic things, fatigue, and breathing issues." "If you catch it, you got about a one in three or one in five chance of having this [long term] illness," said Dr. Joel Rosenstock, who oversees the Long Covid Clinic at Absolute Care Medical Center in Atlanta.6254a4d1642c605c54bf1cab17d50f1e

"A hospitalized COVID-19 patient in Louisiana who had not been vaccinated has urged others to "open [their] eyes" and get a shot after falling seriously ill," reports Newsweek. "The man, who was identified only as Jim, described falling ill with COVID-19 as 'like you got your lungs just clamped down.' He said he was not anti-vaccine but simply had not gotten around to arranging for his first shot."

"A surge in coronavirus patients and a shortage of health-care workers and intensive care unit beds have pushed Mississippi's hospital system to the brink of "failure," state health officials warned Wednesday, saying drastic federal intervention was needed to help the state grapple with the thousands of new daily infections that have overwhelmed doctors and nurses," says the Washington Post. "Mississippi is averaging nearly 2,700 new covid-19 infections a day in the past week — a 54 percent spike in the past seven days, according to data compiled by The Washington Post."

"More than 80 students were potentially exposed to Covid-19 on the first day of class in Reno, Nevada, on Monday after a parent sent their child to Marce Herz Middle School, despite both the parent and child receiving a positive Covid-19 test just two days earlier, Washoe County Health District officials said," reports CNN. "The exposed students had to quarantine at home and started distance learning on Tuesday, the Washoe County School District said."

"Hospitals in Texas are suspending elective procedures and turning to 2,500 medical workers from other states to help combat a surge in Covid cases as increasingly younger and healthier patients who didn't get vaccinated against the virus crowd treatment floors," reports CNBC. "The state is bracing for what could be its most aggressive fight against the coronavirus yet as the delta variant rips across the country and hits states with low vaccination rates and relaxed public health measures, particularly in the South and Midwest." so get vaccinated ASAP and to protect your life and the lives of others, don't visit any of these 35 Places You're Most Likely to Catch COVID.