Military medical teams sent to New Mexico and six other western and midwestern states

Navy medics join COVID fight in hard-hit New Mexico Dozens of U.S. Navy medics have deployed to New Mexico to treat a Delta variant-fueled surge in COVID-19 patients as part of a military operation to treat virus hotspots across Western and Midwest states. Shannon Stapleton Reuters

FARMINGTON, N.M., Dec 9 (Reuters) - Dozens of U.S. Navy medics have deployed to New Mexico to treat a Delta variant-fueled surge in COVID-19 patients as part of a military operation to treat virus hotspots across Western and Midwest states.

New Mexico is suffering one of the highest levels of new coronavirus infections in the country, its hospitals reaching record capacity levels.

Nearly 50 Navy medics are treating COVID-19 patients at the San Juan Regional Medical Center in Farmington, northwest New Mexico, where critical care patient numbers have been over 200% of capacity for weeks.

"I'm not seeing lots of vaccinated people, we're seeing the population that is unvaccinated with a very aggressive form of COVID running through it," said Navy Lieutenant Commander Charles Volk, a pulmonary intensivist, as he sat in the hospital's intensive care unit.

The Navy group is one of 20 military teams set to be deployed to struggling hospitals in at least seven states including Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Michigan and Minnesota, according to Navy Staff Sergeant Evan Ruchotzke and a U.S. Army statement. ...