Tennessee Health Commissioner, “Hospitals In Dire Straights”

On Thursday there were 3500 Tennesseans in hospitals from Memphis to Mountain City. That surpasses the 33 hundred that were recorded during last winter’s peak of the pandemic. ICU cases are 20 percent higher that during the winter peak and the number of patients on ventilators is now 40 percent higher. Tennessee Health Commissioner Dr. Lisa Piercey says hospitals in East Tennessee are now in dire straights. New data shows Tennessee ranks as the highest hotspot for the virus per capita in the United States. And 90 percent of those hospitalized were not vaccinated.