Texas Hospital Records 1st Case Of South American Lambda COVID-19 Variant

As cases of COVID-19 climb around the country — up nearly 200% in the last two weeks — hospitals are filling as well. Dr. Thomas Dobbs, Mississippi's state health officer, tweeted this week that the "4th wave is here."

At Houston Methodist Hospital in Texas, 184 COVID-19 patients have been admitted, up 70% from a week ago. Most of them are unvaccinated and infected with the infectious Delta variant of the disease.

But hospital physician and CEO Marc Boom says at least one hospitalization is a patient infected with the Lambda variant, a strain of coronavirus that started in Peru and is now rampant in parts of South America.

Boom joins host Robin Young to talk about the situation at his hospital.