As the highly contagious delta variant spreads, COVID-19 hospitalizations in rural Northern California counties are rapidly increasing, severely straining already limited resources. Doctors and nurses are at the brink of exhaustion eighteen months into the pandemic. Patients are waiting for beds. ICU units are full.

Many of those who are hospitalized are unvaccinated, the doctors said. The current, fourth, COVID surge is also seeing more younger patients. Unvaccinated people in California are more than six times as likely to contract the coronavirus than those who are vaccinated, according to recent state data.

The letter said transferring patients to nearby hospitals has been difficult as neighboring counties contend with their own COVID surges. Medical staff said they have become used to hearing the phrase “there are no hospital beds in all of Northern California.”

“Never before has our medical system faced such a challenge. We can all do our part in this dire situation by getting vaccinated,” the Mendocino doctors and medical wrote in the letter.

The issue is compounded for rural areas as it simultaneously deals with fast-moving wildfires, which degrade air quality and can cause health complications for people with underlying health conditions.

The overflow of patients at hospitals impact non-COVID patients too — those who are dealing with strokes and heart attacks, and other medical issues, are struggling to find beds, the letter said.

Doctors in Del Norte County, far up north in California bordering Oregon, released a similar letter pleading with the public to get vaccinated, earlier this month. Many of those doctors also work in Humboldt County.

Despite rumors and misinformation circulating about the vaccine, the letter emphasized that vaccines are safe and effective:

“Please talk with us, or your primary care provider, about the COVID-19 vaccine. The data and the science are clear: the vaccine is safe and highly effective in preventing severe COVID-19 illness and COVID-related deaths. We are vaccinated. Getting vaccinated will not only protect you, but will also keep your loved ones and your community safe and out of the hospital.”