- Tennessee has just 99 ICU beds left across all hospitals in the state.
- It's currently facing a surge in COVID-19 cases not seen since January.
- Hospitalizations are almost at record levels, according to data from The New York Times.
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Tennessee has just 99 ICU beds left across all hospitals in the state as it battles a record-breaking surge in COVID-19 cases, according to data from the state's Department of Health on Tuesday.
The state hit record levels of people hospitalized with COVID-19 at 3,338, WBIR reported on Wednesday. Also in a first, the number of people on ventilators reached 661 and the number of people in the ICU reached 943.
The 99 beds make up just 5% of the 2,045 capacity in the state. There are 1,247 available floor beds across Tennessee hospitals, or 11% of the 11,369 total capacity.
Tennessee also reached a daily average of nearly 6,800 COVID-19 cases for the first time since January, according to The New York Times.
Tennessee faces "a significant number of hospitalizations," Gov. Bill Lee said to the Tennessean on Tuesday as he used executive powers to deploy the National Guard to aid hospitals. "We have a solution to the pandemic, and it's the vaccine."
Dr. Wendy Long, president of the Tennessee Hospital Association, said the current situation is worse than it was during the winter months, the Tennessean said, and that it's unclear how much longer it will last.
"What we know, at least in the past, is that the peak in hospitalizations tends to come about two weeks after the peak in cases, and then the peak in deaths comes some time after that," Long told the paper.
This story is developing. Please check back for updates.