Tennessee hospitals are struggling to find staff amid the Covid-19 surge, and Tennessee Health Commissioner Dr. Lis Piercey cautioned that the state’s contingency plans of using healthcare staffing firms isn’t enough because healthcare staffing firms are maxed out, Fox 17 reported. The state has provided up to $51 million for hospital assistance. However, Piercey said “all the money in the world can’t buy more staff.”
Piercey’s comments came as Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee called on Tennesseeans to wear masks and for employers in the state to allow their employees to work from home for the next 30 days. “We now have around 10,000 Tennesseans getting sick every day. To put that in perspective, that’s three times where we were around Halloween,” Lee said in a statement. “Thousands of our neighbors are in the hospital tonight. More than 100 people are dying each day.”