Midland Health CEO Says ‘You Should Be Scared’ of COVID-19 Spike

Russell Meyers, Midland Health CEO and President is concerned about the recent spike in cases and says we all should be too.

According to the Midland Reporter-Telegram, Meyers also lashed out at residents who accused him and the hospital of spreading fear by holding press conferences and telling the community they "should be scared."

“That's exactly why we should and why we'll do them – people need to be scared,” said Meyers while also announcing Midland Health would be holding daily briefings. “This not only is overwhelming the hospital and our resources but it's squeezing out our ability to care for people in our own community and in the communities around us who need those hospital beds that are filled with COVID patients.”

Meyers said that Midland is now a hotspot for COVID-19 because of the highly contagious Delta variant and the low numbers of fully vaccinated people.

Midland currently has only 39% of residents fully vaccinated.

“If you haven't gotten that message and you're not a little bit concerned about what's happening in your community hospital, then you're clearly not paying attention,” said Meyers. “You should be scared.”

Midland Memorial Hospital expects to receive 15 critical care nurses, some medical unit nurses, and respiratory therapists by August 18, 2021, that will allow the hospital to add 12 more beds by Thursday the 19th.

The hospital is seeking to hire 50 more nurses Meyers said, and they are using their resources to acquire more traveling nurses in case the state doesn't send any nurses.

Midland Health will also add more testing sites and he will have more information on testing and vaccine booster shots in his daily briefings happening at 9:30am every weekday.

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