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As Minnesota hospitals fill with a fourth wave of COVID-19 driven by the delta variant, health care workers are struggling to stay on top of the work and digging deep for compassion. 

The COVID-19 patients now filling the state’s ICU beds are overwhelmingly unvaccinated and younger, often surprised that they were hit so hard by the virus. Some are demanding untested treatments. 

Exhausted by the prolonged pandemic and increasingly adversarial interactions with some patients, more health care workers are calling in sick, and some are leaving the field.  A looming federal vaccine mandate is expected to add to existing staffing shortages. 

MPR News host Angela Davis talks to two doctors and a critical care nurse about fatigue, burnout and what it’s been like to work on the front lines.

Guests::

• Jacob Lyons is a critical care physician at St. Cloud Hospital, a main health hub in the CentraCare Health System

• Annie Gucinski is an ICU nurse at St. Cloud Hospital

• Sara Spilseth is an internal medicine doctor and chief of staff at Regions Hospital in St. Paul, which is part of HealthPartners