“The situation is critical”: Minnesota hospitals beg people to get vaccinated

Enlarge / A man prays at the bedside of his wife, who is intubated and remains critically ill after a COVID infection in the South Seven Intensive Care Unit Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2021 at North Memorial Health Hospital in Robbinsdale, Minn. (credit: Getty | Aaron Lavinsky)

Nine Minnesota hospital systems published a joint letter Sunday saying that all of their beds are full, doctors and nurses are overwhelmed and demoralized, and their ability to provide care is threatened.

"We're heartbroken, we're overwhelmed... The situation is critical," they wrote in the letter, which was published as full-page ads in newspapers statewide. It was signed by executives from Allina Health, Children's Minnesota, CentraCare, Essentia Health, Fairview Health Services, HealthPartners, Hennepin Healthcare, Mayo Clinic, and North Memorial Health.

Minnesota currently has the third-highest rate of new daily COVID-19 infections of any state in the US, with 76 cases per 100,000 people. Cases have risen 24 percent over the last two weeks, and they are expected to continue rising. Test positivity in the North Star State is currently over 11 percent, and only 64 percent of the state is fully vaccinated.

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