DIRE

Mississippi Hospital Treats Patients in Parking Garage as COVID Cases Explode

The vaccination rate in Mississippi is among the lowest in the country.

A Mississippi hospital has resorted to treating patients in its parking garage as coronavirus cases in the region continue to surge precipitously and people sickened by the Delta variant fill hospital beds, health officials said. University of Mississippi Medical Center erected a field hospital with 20 beds in its parking garage Friday morning and has made plans to open a mobile hospital tent elsewhere early next week. The Department of Health and Human Services has sent personnel to the state as doctors and nurses drown under the rising caseload. The vaccination rate in Mississippi is among the lowest in the country, and Gov. Tate Reeves has not instituted precautionary measures, calling face masks an “individual choice.”