National Guard deployed to 55 hospitals as record-breaking COVID-19 case numbers reported in MA

BOSTON — Hundreds of National Guards members are being deployed to 55 hospitals across Massachusetts Monday.

They will be helping hospitals that are short-staffed as COVID-19 case numbers continue to climb.

The National Guard personnel will be assisting hospitals in five key roles: Driving ambulances for non-emergency transport between facilities, observing patients at risk of harming themselves, working security, food service, and transporting patients inside hospitals.

Also, starting Monday, hospitals with less than 15% of beds available must cancel or reschedule all non-essential, non-urgent procedures that could result in a patient being admitted to the hospital.

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The latest state data reported on Dec. 23 shows 91% of all medical and surgical beds and 83% of all intensive care unit beds are already full statewide.

These measures take effect as record-breaking COVID-19 case numbers are being reported in Massachusetts.

On Friday, more than 10,000 new COVID-19 cases were reported in the state –the highest number for a single day since the pandemic started.

COVID-19 detection in wastewater in the Boston area is also showing the highest levels of the virus we’ve seen since the pandemic started.

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