Photo: Getty Images
An Oklahoma City hospital is asking residents to get the COVID-19 vaccine after it ran out of beds on Monday afternoon.
Just before 3 p.m. on August 9, Mercy Hospital said on Facebook that it had admitted 62 patients with COVID-19 and it had an additional four patients who were waiting in the emergency room for an open bed.
"This most recent surge has created long wait times in the ER, our ICU and stepdown units are full, and our care team is exhausted. This issue isn’t unique to Mercy; it impacts our entire state," the post read.
Mercy officials also said it rejected 121 transfer patients from other hospitals because it simply didn't have enough space.
They also said that hospital records show that 87% of its patients admitted for COIVD-19 symptoms are unvaccinated.
"Over the last one to two weeks, I would say we've really seen an increase in the amount of patients we're having to admit related to COVID," said Dr. Lance Watson, director of Mercy Emergency Department. "By and large right now, unfortunately, this is a large percentage of people that are unvaccinated that we're having to admit for COVID."
Statewide, there have been an increase of 6,300 COVID-19 cases since Friday, August 6, KOCO reported.