US hospitals see surging patients as COVID-19 cases top 100,000 per day

NEW YORK - Health systems in the United States, especially those in the South where the vaccination rates remain comparatively low, are trying to deal with hiking hospitalizations, as the country's daily COVID-19 cases topped 100,000 on Friday, hitting a six-month high since February.

Southern states like Florida, Georgia and Louisiana account for almost 40 percent of all hospitalizations in the country, straining their health care systems as the Delta variant runs rampant through the unvaccinated, reported USA Today earlier this week.

In Florida, where nearly 2,500 of the 12,000-plus patients hospitalized with COVID-19 are in intensive care units, elective surgeries are getting suspended and beds are being placed in conference rooms, an auditorium and a cafeteria, it said.

In Georgia, at least 25 medical centers have had to turn people away for lack of space as the number of hospitalizations for COVID-19 has risen to 2,600 statewide. There were about 2,350 COVID-19 patients in Louisiana hospitals as of Thursday, and one of them had to postpone an organ transplant, it added.

According to the figures updated on The New York Times website, the country's new daily COVID-19 cases rose to 108,513 on Saturday, while the 14-day change was a 111 percent increase. The coronavirus deaths were 506 on Saturday, while the 14-day change was an 89 percent rise.