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Diabetes and COVID Forge Deadly ‘Perfect Storm’ in Mississippi

Raelene Jarvis of Oregon with the National Disaster Medical System team tries out the computer system in the mobile field hospital located in garage B of the University of Mississippi Medical Center following a press conference Thursday, Aug. 12. Photo courtesy UMMC

Amid the worst pandemic in a century, Mississippi is leading the nation in increased diabetes deaths per capita, according to a just-released study, putting massive strain on the state’s frontline workers and hospitals.

Jerry Mitchell’s report for the Mississippi Center for Investigative Journalism, also published in the Jackson Clarion Ledger, describes how the state’s largest hospital has been forced to set up two additional field hospitals to handle the increased number of patients and how frontline workers and nurses are outnumbered and overworked.