‘GOING TO GET WORSE’

Mississippi, the Least Vaccinated State in the Nation, Has Just Six Open ICU Beds Left

Less than 35 percent of the state’s population have had both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Mississippi, the state with the lowest coronavirus vaccination rate in the U.S., is on the cusp of running out of ICU beds for severely ill people. Less than 35 percent of the state’s population is fully vaccinated, according to state figures. Jonathan Wilson, the chief administrative officer at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, has warned that hospital beds are fast running out—with just six available across the entire state—and case numbers are heading in the wrong direction. “We are at the cusp of this. We know that we aren’t at the crest of this wave,” Wilson said Wednesday, according to NBC News. “It’s bad, but it’s probably going to get a little worse.” Neighboring Arkansas, where about 42 percent of people are fully vaccinated, had only 25 ICU beds open as of Wednesday, and some regions of Louisiana are also reporting serious ICU shortages. Meanwhile, Johns Hopkins University has confirmed that the U.S. hit a six-month high for new cases, with over 100,000 infections reported Wednesday.