A group of 75 doctors at a South Florida hospital staged a walk out to protest the surge of unvaccinated COVID patients they’ve seen.

The doctors in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, are telling people, “ignore the nonsense and the absurdities that you’re hearing people say at public meetings and recognize the value of what a vaccine will do.” 85% of ICU beds in Florida are occupied.

Dr. J. T. Snarksi said, “It’s incredibly frustrating because we know vaccines are safe and effective. And it’s people who go out and talk against them that really go against physicians and medicine and science.” She added, “It’s not the message we want to get across to people. Vaccines are safe and we need to get our communities vaccinated.” Dr. Rupesh Dharia said, “We are exhausted. Our patience and resources are running low and we need your help.” After the doctors staged their early morning walk out, they proceeded to return to the hospital to care for their patients.

Florida has one of the lowest vaccination rates and some of the most lax coronavirus protocols in the nation. They are experiencing one of the largest surges of COVID across the country, mostly from the Delta variant.

Here in Tennessee, I heard on a radio report that there were only 7% of ICU beds open and available for patients. But, that was two weeks ago, so it may have changed by now. Phil Valentine, a popular conservative radio host based in Nashville but syndicated across the country, died of COVID earlier this week. Valentine often made light of the pandemic and chose not to get vaccinated. Valentine’s brother, Mark, said on the radio that Phil was “regretful that he wasn’t a more vocal advocate of the vaccination. For those listening, I know if he were able to tell you this, he would tell you, ‘Go get vaccinated. Quit worrying about the politics. Quit worrying about all the conspiracy theories.'”

At my own hospital, we have seen a substantial jump in the number of COVID cases, from only 2 in early July to 36 this week. At the hospital where my wife works, three floors are now dedicated to COVID. My brother was recently in the ER for chest pains, and the doctors wanted to admit him. Unfortunately, because of COVID admissions they had no available beds. They called around to area hospitals, including military hospitals (my brother is an Army veteran), but none of the other hospitals had an available bed, either. So, they sent him home with instructions to return if the chest pains came back. As I’ve continued to say over the months, the concern about COVID is not just the mortality rate, but the hospitalization rate. You may be willing to take the risk with a virus that has a 98+ survival rate. But, you don’t need to be taking up space in a hospital room that is needed by someone with chest pains because you didn’t do what was necessary to avoid a virus you could have avoided.

At my daughter’s school, they’ve seen an uptick in COVID, as well. There is no mask mandate, which is fine if everyone follows the rules. Unfortunately, parents are still sending their children to school sick, and that causes problems for a lot more people than just their child when their child tests positive for COVID.

Get vaccinated.

Wear a mask in public and at large gatherings, or avoid large gatherings for the time being.

Wash or sanitize your hands.

Practice social distancing.

If you are sick, stay home from work.

If your child is sick, keep him or her home from school.

Take care of yourself. Be considerate of others. Be kind to yourself and everyone else.

Be Christ for all. Bring Christ to all. See Christ in all.