FARMINGTON, NM, Dec. 9 (Reuters) – (Corrected this Dec. 9 story in Paragraph 5 on “Army Staff Sergeant” in the Navy)
Dozens of U.S. Navy medics are dispatched to New Mexico to treat a Delta-fueled surge in COVID-19 patients as part of a military operation to treat virus hotspots in western and midwestern states.
New Mexico suffers from one of the highest new coronavirus infections in the country, and hospitals hit record capacities.
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Nearly 50 Navy medics are treating COVID-19 patients at the San Juan Regional Medical Center in Farmington, northwest New Mexico, where ICU numbers have been over 200% capacity for weeks.
“I don’t see many people vaccinated, we see the unvaccinated population with a very aggressive form of COVID,” said Navy Lieutenant Commander Charles Volk, a pulmonary intensive care doctor, as he sat in the hospital’s intensive care unit.
The group is one of 20 military teams to be deployed in ailing hospitals in at least seven states, including Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Michigan and Minnesota, according to Army Staff Sergeant Evan Ruchotzke and a statement from the US Army.
Navy nurse Kennedy Garcia, who works in her fourth COVID intensive care unit, said her team had received a warm welcome from the tired Farmington Hospital staff.
Garcia has lost four family members to COVID-19, including her grandmother. She urged the Americans to get vaccinated.
“A vaccine is quick, but your intubated grandmother’s picture isn’t. A lot of people have had to see this picture; it doesn’t go away,” she said.
New Mexico pioneered vaccination, leading all states in its rate of fully vaccinated residents earlier in the year. But immunity is now decreasing.
The 61-year-old patient Larry Goff contracted the virus along with his pregnant daughter. She was hospitalized last week and lost her baby. Goff was initially a vaccine skeptic and got his shots six months ago.
“I was one of those who lasted a long time, but I’m glad I finally broke down and would do it again,” he said from his hospital bed, gasping for breath.
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Reporting by Shannon Stapleton in Farmington, New Mexico, writing by Andrew Hay, editing by Donna Bryson and Karishma Singh
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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