COVID-19 surge overwhelms S. Oregon hospitals: ‘The ICUs are just filled’

A large blue sign to the right of the frame reads "Mercy Medical Center". To the left of frame, in the background in soft focus, is a hospital building

Mercy Medical Center in Roseburg is overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients. On Wednesday, a patient with COVID-19 died while waiting for an ICU bed.Dave Killen / The Oregonian

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Angela Powell was working her usual shift last weekend in the emergency department of CHI Mercy Medical Center in Roseburg when the enormity of the record-setting COVID-19 surge hit her like a body blow.

The hospital and the ER were packed with patients. Ambulances were lined up to deliver more. In normal times, the logjam would ease as recovering patients were discharged. But on that night, as Mercy and many other Oregon hospitals continued their descent into a COVID-19 nightmare, no one was getting better.

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