Coronavirus: US hospitals sound alarm over Delta surge; France rolls out ‘health pass’ despite protests

The number of people hospitalised with Covid-19 in the US has more than tripled over the past month to almost 43,000

Elsewhere, France is pressing ahead with its QR code ‘health pass’ plan for transport, cafes; and 551,000 Tunisians received a vaccine dose on Sunday

4-MIN READ4-MIN

Health care workers treats a patient inside a negative pressure room in a Covid-19 intensive care unit at a hospital in Missouri, US, last week. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 12:35pm, 9 Aug 2021Updated: 9:11pm, 9 Aug 2021

As Covid-19 cases surge, some hospitals in the United States are raising the alarm over hospitalisation rates that may push facilities to capacity.

The number of people hospitalised with the virus in the US has more than tripled over the past month, from an average of roughly 12,000 to almost 43,000, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

“The Delta variant is ripping through the unvaccinated,” Mary Mayhew, CEO of Florida Hospital Association said. Hospitals in Jacksonville and Orlando last week crashed through their pandemic peaks, and hospitals in Miami-Dade County are at or approaching record coronavirus hospitalisations this week, Mayhew said.

A patient is transferred to accident and emergency at a hospital in Florida last week. Photo: Reuters

In Texas, hospitals are bracing for another surge of the virus, as more than 5,000 Covid-19 hospitalisations were reported on Thursday, up from 3,566 a week earlier, the Texas Tribune reported. In Houston, hospital accident and emergency wards are operating at or above capacity, with one hospital saying they’re treating patients in hallways and waiting rooms, according to ABC 13.

“Right now, if you’re not on death’s door with the most critical situation … very high likelihood you’ll have to wait in our waiting room,” the station quoted Harris Health System’s Matthew Schlueter as saying.