Springfield hospital opening 6th COVID unit amid spread. It only needed 5 last year.

Mercy Hospital in Springfield is opening a sixth COVID-19 unit, its chief administrative officer said Sunday, as the highly contagious delta variant is rampaging through the unvaccinated there.

In a Twitter post, Erik Frederick said the hospital only needed five such units last year. Staff are now treating 133 virus patients, up from 116 by this time last week.

“Many local rural communities don’t have high vaccination rates,” Frederick wrote. “They also don’t have a hospital. Get sick, come to Springfield. I think that’s getting left out of the narrative.”

The hospital’s announcement of an additional COVID unit comes as the hospital has been slammed by a surge of infections. Last week, the hospital ran out of ventilators, so Mercy hospitals in St. Louis and Arkansas sent their supplies.

Days later, the Springfield-Greene County Health Department reported 17 deaths between June 21 and July 4. Health officials said none were fully vaccinated.

Missouri has the second-highest rate of new cases per capita, according to data compiled by The New York Times, and among the lowest adult vaccination rates among all states. The delta variant has also now been found in the Kansas City and St. Louis areas.