Oregon governor to send troops to help hospitals as Covid surges

Governor says I cannot emphasize enough the seriousness of this crisis' as Texas and Florida make up 40% of US hospitalizations

As the Delta variant continued to rip through regions of the US, Oregon's governor said she would send up to 1,500 national guard troops to help hospital workers pushed to the brink by a surge of cases, while the White House announced that Texas and Florida alone accounted for almost 40% of new US Covid hospitalizations last week.

Democrat Kate Brown said troops would be sent to 20 hospitals around the state. Seven hundred and thirty-three 733 people were hospitalized in Oregon as of Friday, including 185 people in intensive care units - 60 more than a day before and nearly double the figure of two weeks ago.