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- A nurse quit her job amid the surge in hospitalizations of COVID-19 patients in Mississippi.
- Jen Sartin cited exhaustion and mental strain as her reason for switching departments in an interview with MSNBC.
- Mississippi is one of the states with the lowest vaccination rate amid the spread of the Delta variant.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
An intensive care unit nurse is switching her position, citing exhaustion and mental strain after working in a hospital overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients in a state where the vaccination rate is low amid the threat of the Delta variant.
"I don't have any strength left. Honestly, I've given so much I can't keep going," Jen Sartin, a nurse at Singing River Health System in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, said in an interview with MSNBC. "That's why I decided to move to a different department because it's affected me in ways I never thought possible."
"And it's not going to get better, and I have to protect myself and my family and my sanity," Sartin said. "Because if people aren't doing what they need to do to protect us, you know, we're human. We're not robots. We're not machines. We can't continue to do this forever at this capacity."
-Maddow Blog (@MaddowBlog) August 12, 2021
Data from the New York Times shows that only an estimated 36% of people are fully vaccinated in Mississippi. The rise in COVID-19 cases has resulted in an overflow of patients in hospitals. As WWL-TV reported, the largest hospital in the state had to create an alternative care site in its parking garage to accommodate patients.
On Thursday, Alan Jones of the University of Mississippi Medical Center said that the uptick in cases could lead to "failure of the hospital system in Mississippi."
The pandemic has caused many nurses to consider leaving their jobs. For Sartin, her decision comes as the majority of patients are unvaccinated and as more children are being admitted to hospitals. She told MSNBC: "I've seen more death than I thought I would see in my entire life."
The Mississippi State Department of Health reported 5,023 new COVID-19 cases as of August 12. According to John Hopkins University, there have been 381,147 cases and 7,761 deaths linked to the virus.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance, masks and vaccines are effective ways to help reduce transmission of the virus.
"I respect everybody's choice to get vaccinated or not but when it comes down to it, it's just gonna get worse. And it's gonna get to a point where it affects our kids, that's my biggest fear" Sartin said.
She said she also fears that the coronavirus will "keep mutating and we could've done everything in our power to stop it."
"We have a solution by getting the vaccine and wearing our masks and doing what we need to do," Starin said.
She added: "We're tired. Nurses are so tired. It's getting to the point where we need help. "