Tennessee will deploy the National Guard to fill hospital staff shortages amid COVID-19 surge

• Tennessee is sending members of its National Guard to some hospitals to help fill staff shortages amid a COVID-19 surge.
• The move was announced by Lisa Piercey, the commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Health.
• She said that the National Guard was previously deployed to some hospitals during the winter.

Tennessee is deploying the National Guard to help fill hospital staff shortages across the state amid a recent COVID-19 surge.

The move was announced by Lisa Piercey, the commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Health, during a press conference about COVID-19 in the state on Monday.

"When we have personnel in our military who can do medical procedures or have medical training and can backfill in our hospitals, that will help augment the staff that is already there," Piercey said. "We did that in some hospitals in the wintertime and we are reinstating that program as of today."

Piercey added that August is already the worst month for COVID-19 hospitalizations yet since the pandemic began.

Roughly 40% of all ICU beds in the state are being used by COVID-19 patients, Piercey said.