YRMC reports spike in deaths from coronavirus
Hospital sees five deaths in 24-hour period
YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) - Yuma Regional Medical Center (YRMC) on Tuesday reported five more deaths from COVID-19. A hospital spokesperson says it's an unusually high number of deaths for a 24-hours period. The spike brings the numbers of hospital patients lost to coronavirus to 691.
The hospital says it cannot confirm whether the patients were vaccinated or not, but given current trends it suspects they were not. Of the 69 patients currently hospitalized, only 10 are vaccinated.
YRMC also says it continues to see a rise in cases. It discharged 11 patients Monday, but then it admitted another 10.
23 of those patients are in COVID intensive care. The hospital still has plenty of bed space, and plenty of ventilators. However, it continues to suffer from a shortage of staff.
RELATED: YRMC experiencing same staffing shortage most U.S. hospitals are seeing
RELATED: Arizona hospitals seek federal help for Covid staffing, Ducey allots millions
Just last week Gov. Doug Ducey earmarked another $35 million to help state hospitals find staffing to deal with the surge. He also asked FEMA for more than 100 personnel to staff rural hospitals.
For continuing coverage of the pandemic visit our Coronvirus in the Desert Southwest page.
