Federal disaster medical team to help Rockford battle COVID surge
ROCKFORD — A 22-member federal disaster medical assistance team arrived in Rockford Wednesday to assist doctors and nurses at Mercyhealth Javon Bea Hospital-Riverside in treating COVID-19 patients.
The team, a group of medical professionals from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services National Disaster Medical System, will be on-site for two weeks.
The state requested assistance to combat the recent surge in COVID-19 cases and the low availability of ICU beds in Region 1, which includes Rockford and much of northwest Illinois.
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According to a news release from state of Illinois, the team will work to help reduce the strain on the hospital’s emergency department and help other hospitals in the region who may transfer patients to Javon Bea Hospital-Riverside.
More than 2,000 healthcare workers have been deployed in a similar fashion across Illinois, Gov. JB Pritzker said in the release.
More than 600 people are being admitted to Illinois hospitals statewide each day for COVID-19, with a daily average of more than 7,100 patients in the hospital with COVID-19.
Shaquil Manigault: smanigault@gannett.com; @RRstarShaquil
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Rockford gets federal disaster medical team to help fight COVID
