(CNN) Earlier this month, Mississippi ICU nurse Nichole Atherton resigned, worn down by the stress, young patients and preventable deaths that have overwhelmed the state's hospitals during the Covid-19 pandemic. "It looks heroic," Atherton, of Singing River Ocean Springs Hospital, told CNN. Mississippi now has at least 2,000 fewer nurses than it did at the beginning of the year, according to the Mississippi Hospital Association's Center for Quality & Workforce. The staff shortages add to the growing strain on the state's hospital system -- both due, in large part, to the Covid-19 pandemic. When asked if the health care system is reaching a breaking point, Singing River Nursing Manager for Personal Care Buddy Gager said, "I think we already broke."

Source: CNN August 26, 2021 00:11 UTC