More than 100,000 people are hospitalized nationwide with positive cases of COVID-19.

King’s Daughters Medical Center in Brookhaven is at 185% capacity. The eight-bed intensive care unit is overflowing, and Emergency Room Manager Nick Smith said they routinely hold five to six COVID patients in the ER because there is no room in the ICU.

“It’s been a nightmare. We’re seeing very sick patients. We don’t have enough staff to take care of these patients. We’re having to double them up in rooms. We’re running out of supplies. We’re running out of things that we need,” ER nurse Kimberley Jones told MSNBC reporter Allison Barber.

“We’re requested really 20 ICU nurses [through FEMA], as well five medical nurses, four respiratory therapists, two nurse practitioners and somewhere in the next two days we hope to get two more docs,” KDMC CEO Alvin Hoover said.

The Mississippi State Department of Health reported the number of infected people statewide has increased by 61% Aug. 3-23. The number of patients in hospital ICUs has risen by 74%, and the number of patients on ventilators has climbed by 135%.

Sixty-one hospitals in Mississippi have requested extra help, KDMC is No. 17 on the list. Mississippi ranks 49^th in the country for vaccinations.