COVID surge in Missouri declared a ‘mass casualty event’: Springfield Fire Chief

Authorities in Missouri are warning the state's residents against a surge in coronavirus, as the Delta variant spreads throughout the state.

"Seventeen more residents of southwest Missouri have died of COVID-19 in Greene County's latest reporting period as the area has experienced a spike in cases and a short supply of the medical equipment needed to treat the severely ill. On Tuesday, the Springfield-Greene County Health Department reported the death toll was the highest in a single reporting period since January," The Kansas City Starreported on Wednesday.

None of people who died were fully vaccinated.

Missouri currently ranks as the worst state in America for rates of COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths in the last seven days, and is second to Arkansas for the most cases per capita.

David Pennington, the chief of the Springfield Fire Department, described the crisis as a "mass casualty event."

"This is a mass casualty event, happening in slow-motion," Pennington warned.

He said emergency medical services' "sesources are depleted, and the hospital systems are overwhelmed."

"Our community is in crisis," he declared.