Three states in the northwest of the country,
New York, New Hampshire and Maine
, have mobilized the National Guard to assist hospitals and health centers due to the increase in COVID-19 infections and the lack of health personnel and available beds.
Cases have skyrocketed in that region of the country by up
to 20%
, driven by the delta variant.
The virus is already killing about 1,300 people in the United States a day, according to an analysis by the Axios news portal.
This occurs when the end of the year celebrations approach, which can spread infections among the unvaccinated, and amid the advance of the new omicron variant, it has already been detected in more than a dozen states of the country.
The National Guard has assisted states throughout the country during the pandemic with the deployment of personnel to hospitals and vaccination centers, among others.
Charles Krupa / AP
The New York National Guard released Wednesday that it had deployed
120 doctors and healthcare workers to
a dozen long-term care facilities across the state, after Gov. Kathy Hochul issued an order last week. passed to request assistance.
Service members were deployed to facilities from Long Island to Buffalo and north to the Canadian border, the Guard said in a statement.
There will also be personnel deployed to hospitals in New York.
Until last week, about 50 health centers in the north of the state had less than 10% of bed capacity.
In recent days, coronavirus cases have increased with
about
3,500 hospitalized patients
, the highest level recorded since April.
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Maine
Gov.
Janet Mills activated the National Guard after an increase in infections and a record 379 coronavirus patients hospitalized on Wednesday, of whom 60 were intubated.
"
We must take steps to ease the strain on our health care system
and ensure care for all who need it," Mills said in a statement.
Maine only has 42 beds available in intensive care units, according to official data.
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Meanwhile,
New Hampshire
Governor
Christopher Sununu is calling on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the National Guard to help the state prepare for a surge in COVID-19 cases during the winter.
A first team of 24 people from FEMA will arrive at the health centers this weekend and another group of 30 paramedics will arrive next week.
A 70-person National Guard team
will assist with "everything from soup, food service or office duties
," the governor said, to give hospitals more flexibility in organizing their workers.
40% still unvaccinated in the country
At least 23 states have had an increase of more than 20% in the number of cases in the last two weeks alone, and specialists indicate that there will be more
rebound of cases in other regions of the country
.
One of the biggest problems in the fight against the pandemic continues to be the number of people not vaccinated.
"We've tried everything from public relations to incentive offers, until people see what's going on in our intensive care units and we still have that reluctant group of people who just don't get vaccinated," Director Michael Osterholm told CNN. from the University of Minnesota Center for Infectious Diseases Research and Policy.
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The United States reached a significant milestone Wednesday night, with more than 200 million people now fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, about 60% of the population, according to a tally by The Washington Post.
However, infections and serious cases remain, particularly in the remaining percentage without immunization.
This has led health officials to describe the current crisis as an "unvaccinated pandemic."
In Texas, a study published last month found that across all age groups,
the state's unvaccinated were 40 times more likely to die
than fully vaccinated people.
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The governor of Maine also repeated the call for residents to get vaccinated, with her office noting that the majority of people hospitalized due to COVID-19 were not immunized.
"For your health, for the health of an elderly person, for the health of a child, for our health workers, for the National Guard, please get vaccinated," the official said, according to NBC News.
"It
can save your life or someone else's,
" he added.
