Armond Feffer

Photographer

The Missouri ICU

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A third wave of the COVID-19 virus towards the end of 2020 swept through the United States and took thousands of lives with it.

Missouri, a conservative state without a state-wide mask mandate, was one of the hardest hit states. At its peak in mid-November, the state was averaging nearly 5,000 new cases a day.

A small hospital just outside St. Louis was just one of many health facilities that felt the full force of pandemic. St. Joseph Hospital was quickly overwhelmed when all 10 of their ICU beds filled up.

Armond Feffer/The Missouri Independent

Nurse Melissa Scholl makes a ph...spital in Lake Saint Louis, Mo.

Nurse Melissa Scholl makes a phone call as another tends to a COVID-19 patient in the background on Monday, Nov. 23, 2020, at SSM Health St. Joseph Hospital in Lake Saint Louis, Mo.

Two health officials enter the ...spital in Lake Saint Louis, Mo.

Two health officials enter the ICU ward on Monday, Nov. 23, 2020, at SSM Health St. Joseph Hospital in Lake Saint Louis, Mo.

Manager of Respiratory Therapy ...spital in Lake Saint Louis, Mo.

Manager of Respiratory Therapy Jeff Ball prepares to bring oxygen tanks into the ICU on Monday, Nov. 23, 2020, at SSM Health St. Joseph Hospital in Lake Saint Louis, Mo.

ICU nurse Vicki Madden tends to...ilators to aid their breathing.

ICU nurse Vicki Madden tends to a COVID-19 patient inside an ICU room on Monday, Nov. 23, 2020, at SSM Health St. Joseph Hospital in Lake Saint Louis. Patients require frequent supervision to monitor their lungs and breathing. Some COVID-19 patients cannot breath on their own and require ventilators to aid their breathing.

A protective masks sits on a co...o come by for health officials.

A protective masks sits on a counter while nurses go over the condition of the 34 COVID-19 patients they are treating on Monday, Nov. 23, 2020, at SSM Health St. Joseph Hospital in Lake Saint Louis. Personal protective equipment has been limited and at times hard to come by for health officials.

An exhausted nurse waits to adm...p to help in the COVID-19 unit.

An exhausted nurse waits to administer food through a feeding tube for a COVID-19 patient on Monday, Nov. 23, 2020, at SSM Health St. Joseph Hospital in Lake Saint Louis. Many nurses from other specialties were called up to help in the COVID-19 unit.

Lauri Reape, left, and her husb...have spent most of the month in

Lauri Reape, left, and her husband Dave Reape, right, sit in their hospital room awaiting the message from a nurse that they are free to go on Monday, Nov. 23, 2020, at SSM Health St. Joseph Hospital in Lake Saint Louis, Mo. The couple was diagnosed with the coronavirus on Nov. 4. The Reapes were no longer contagious and their symptoms had decreased enough to where they could finally leave the hospital they have spent most of the month in

A radiologist peers into an occ...spital in Lake Saint Louis, Mo.

A radiologist peers into an occupied ICU room on Monday, Nov. 23, 2020, at SSM Health St. Joseph Hospital in Lake Saint Louis, Mo.

Lauri Reape sit with her hands ...or COVID-19 a few weeks before.

Lauri Reape sit with her hands crossed with her oxygen tube on Monday, Nov. 23, 2020, at SSM Health St. Joseph Hospital in Lake Saint Louis, Mo. Reape and her husband and Dave tested positive for COVID-19 a few weeks before.