Mississippi health care providers say they may have to close floors and reduce patient beds after losing hundreds of nurses due to the recent expiration of a federal contract put in place to help the state battle the coronavirus pandemic.
During the last wave of COVID-19, 900 nurses were deployed to hospitals across the state under a 60-day contract funded by the federal government. That contract expired Nov. 1 and the number of virus cases has subsided since the summer peak.
Those nurses were crucial for caring for patients during the virus surge, but they also helped fill another urgent need — filling gaps left by nurses who have left the state during the last two years.