Page 2 - Bed Utilization News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> it is important to note the crisis, for sure. it's also notable that it's not everywhere, right? talk about where it is happening and why. >> it is happening most where you would expect it to happen most, where vaccination rates are low and where politically leaders are resisting all efforts to mask and take basic common sense measures to protect the population. look at the i.c.u. bed utilization by state, and everywhere that it's red, they're above at least 70%. and when you get to the dark red ones down here, six states, florida, georgia, alabama, mississippi, kentucky, and texas, that is...

♪ hospitals across the country are nearing capacity. they are struggling to cope with this wave of covid infections. just listen to this alabama department of public health officer describing the situation there. >> because hospitals can expand within their own four walls and add some alternative spaces, we actually got to a negative number, which is remarkable. we have more critically ill patients than we actually have beds. this is the highest we have seen. you know, this is the whole reason for doing all the things we have done and tried to preserve the capacity of our healthcare system...

He detailed this past week as one of the most exhausting and disheartening of his career, adding, there's been a lot of talk about personal freedoms and mandates and government overreach and such. and some day when the sun is shining again, we can sit down and have some interesting conversations about all that. he writes. i might even agree with you on some of those points, but i can't do that today, not today, because there are no beds. many health professionals across the country are echoing that same message. cnn's tom foreman joining me now. so, tom, you've been following this in terms o...

And government overreach and such and some day when the sun is shining again we can sit down and have some interesting conversations about all that. i might even agree with you on some of those points, but i can't do that today. not today because there are no beds. tom forman is joining us now with the latest numbers. and they're alarming, tom. >> they are, brianna. all across this country and intensive care units this draw 345 is playing out. this is the load on icu bed utilization by state in general. of course red is bad. an awful lot of load out there. but specifically look at the covid be...

Of icu beds or soon will be. cnn's tom foreman joining us now. walk us through how dire this situation is? >> reporter: what we're seeing right now are the kind of numbers that i have typically seen in natural disasters in a regional area in the sense that hospitals are being overwhelmed. look at the icu bed utilization by state. everything that is dark red here, they're more than 90% on the use of their icu beds, all the lighter red ones over 80%. so that is a huge load on them. and look at the impact of covid. everything on here that is red, that is where the covid beds have really added up....