Hawaii’s intensive care unit beds are all full as coronavirus cases surge in the state, and hospitals are setting up outdoor field units to deal with overflow patients. The situation seemed inconceivable with the discovery and widespread distribution of powerful vaccines against COVID-19, but states across the country have surpassed their previous peak number of patients hospitalized as the more contagious Delta variant ravages the unvaccinated. Hawaii is also facing an oxygen shortage, a necessary treatment for severe cases of the respiratory illness, with the supply potentially running out as soon as Monday. FEMA has sent more than 400 relief workers to the state. The CEO of the Healthcare Association of Hawaii, Hilton Raethel, said in a press conference, “We are getting close to not being able to provide ICU care for all patients needing it, which means that some patients will not be able to get the optimal level of care to maintain health and potentially life.”
Read it at Honolulu Star-Advertiser
