Hospitals in crisis in least vaccinated state: Mississippi

By LEAH WILLINGHAM
Associated Press/Report for America

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — As patients stream into Mississippi hospitals, doctors and nurses have become accustomed to rampant denial and misinformation about COVID-19 in the nation’s least vaccinated state. People in denial about the severity of their own illness or the virus itself, with visitors frequently trying to enter hospitals without masks. The painful look of recognition on patients’ faces when they realize they made a mistake not getting vaccinated. The constant misinformation about the coronavirus that they discuss with medical staff. About 38% of Mississippi’s 3 million people are fully inoculated against COVID-19. That’s driving a surge in cases and hospitalizations that is overwhelming medical workers.