A Nevada hospital is begging residents to 'get vaccinated' as it becomes inundated with COVID-19 patients. Only 26% of the county is fully vaccinated.

• A hospital in Elko County, Nevada, urged residents to get vaccinated amid a surge in COVID-19 infections.
• "It is heartbreaking, frustrating and exhausting - but above all, it is preventable," they wrote in a statement Tuesday.
• As of Monday, about 43% of the population in Nevada are fully vaccinated, according to state health data.

A hospital in northeastern Nevada urged residents to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as health workers do "everything we can to manage the rapid increase in patients."

In a statement released Tuesday, the leadership team at Northeastern Nevada Regional Hospital in Elko County, Nevada, acknowledged that the Delta variant of the coronavirus has "torn through our community, our hospital and our state's healthcare system with a vengeance."

"The patients currently being admitted to our hospital with COVID-19 are both the youngest and the sickest we've seen throughout the pandemic," they wrote. "It is heartbreaking, frustrating and exhausting - but above all, it is preventable."

As of Monday, the state of Nevada reported that nearly 3 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine have been administered in the state, with about 43% of the population being fully vaccinated, according to state health data. The state reported more than 380,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as of Monday.

In Elko County, in particular, about 26% of the county population of nearly 55,000 have been fully vaccinated, citing the state vaccination tracker.

The letter released Tuesday was signed by the hospital's Chief Executive Officer Steve Simpson, Chief of Medical Staff Dr. Paton Whimple, and Chief Nursing Officer Alice Allen. They said their staff has been "doing everything we can to manage the rapid increase in patients, but "our system is strained and our people are tired," they wrote.

"The hardest part of what we're facing right now is knowing this is avoidable, and that, with your help, we could turn the tide against COVID-19," the hospital leaders wrote.

They added: "Each vaccine administered is a hospital bed saved for someone having a heart attack, stroke or other potentially life-threatening illness."

Nevadans have been resistant to adhere to health safety guidelines like vaccine recommendations and mask mandates. Some residents protested outside the state capitol last month after Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak reinstated the mask mandate amid a surge in cases.

The mandate, which went into effect at the end of July, requires all residents of counties with "substantial or high community transmission rates" to wear a face-covering indoors to stem the spread of the coronavirus. Twelve out of the state's 17 counties were impacted by the mandate, including Elko.