LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — As the state struggles to get more people vaccinated, COVID-19 patients continue to fill up Kentucky's hospital beds. One hospital, St. Claire in Morehead, is using emergency tents to treat additional patients.
So are there additional resources available to help these hospitals out?
In Lexington, hospitals can manage their COVID-19 patients, but smaller hospitals around Kentucky are struggling. And all of these problems are happening because there are so many patients who are getting hospitalized right now.
On Monday, Senator Mitch McConnell was in Lexington, and we asked him whether there was federal help available for these overwhelmed hospitals. He said the feds have already sent the state a lot of money, so he says resources aren't the problem. He says the fact that people aren't getting vaccinated is the problem.
"There's plenty of money already here," said Sen. McConnell. "Money is not the problem. Reluctance of people to get vaccinated is the problem. We need to keep on preaching that and encouraging people to do the right thing."
Now, McConnell said he never expected people to be so reluctant to get the vaccine, but that's the reality Kentucky and many other states are facing right now. It's one of the reasons some employers have started mandating the vaccination. That's a decision McConnell says employers should, and do, have.
