When the delta variant emerged in mid-2021, it zeroed in on the poorest pockets of the rural South. By late summer, the Covid death rate in Mississippi was higher than anywhere else https://t.co/YjypOfzdAj pic.twitter.com/4T9rfirrRe

— Businessweek (@BW) January 28, 2022

Nurses and doctors urged patients to get vaccinations, but the issue had become as politically charged as anywhere in the country

Mississippi had one of the nation’s lowest vaccination rates, and it remains in the bottom four of all states https://t.co/YjypOfzdAj pic.twitter.com/FCBctNj36Q

— Businessweek (@BW) January 28, 2022

When neurosurgeon Craig Clark’s contract wasn’t renewed, he wondered about his patients.

Most would have to travel 1-2 hours longer. That extra distance, he believed, might be the difference between a full recovery and a permanent disability, or worse https://t.co/YjypOfzdAj pic.twitter.com/MsHUvFlLvC

— Businessweek (@BW) January 28, 2022

Working in the Delta pushed nurse Cassie Oglesby to her limit. She’s now in Phoenix.

“We saw it coming,” Oglesby said of the weeks before things got really bad. “And every nurse and every doctor in the ICU said, ‘No—I can’t do this. I just can’t’ ” https://t.co/YjypOfzdAj pic.twitter.com/sMkHSppvXZ

— Businessweek (@BW) January 28, 2022

Eleven of Dr. Katherine Patterson’s Covid patients slipped into either respiratory or cardiopulmonary arrest.

These people weren’t just names on charts; many were friends and neighbors she’d known for years Patterson. “It takes a beating on the soul” https://t.co/YjypOfzdAj pic.twitter.com/3iJQ9G2Xbe

— Businessweek (@BW) January 28, 2022

Hospitals in the Mississippi Delta have always been close to the brink. Omicron was the last thing they needed. Read the full story https://t.co/YjypOfzdAj pic.twitter.com/DA2tZhXY91

— Businessweek (@BW) January 28, 2022

We need more doctors and nurses. We need their educations subsidized or outright paid for in exchange for public service for a few years in underserved communities.

— ancientgreek (@Cats4mice) January 28, 2022

Absolutely what should be happening. Our healthcare workers need the relief team and our unserved communities need healthcare period.

— DRandall (@sundanceteach) January 29, 2022

When medical education becomes more accsoble and less $$$ for students then this could be addressed. Look at UK system, in order to fight shortage they are implementing physician apprenticeship. But again US model is very money hungry when it comes to healthcare unfortunately

— Scientissimum (@scientissimum) January 29, 2022

This essay from an ICU doctor emotionally hit me: https://t.co/8o51nXAIQc

— Carol Palmer (@AgnetaAnderson) January 30, 2022