One Mississippi hospital system issued a plea for people to stay away from the hospital emergency room unless they are critically ill.

The top doctor for North Mississippi Health Services issued a plea on social media Monday.

“Unless you are critically ill, avoid visiting the Emergency Departments throughout North Mississippi Health Services,” Dr. Jeremy Blanchard said. “We are doing our best to care for you all, but in the very near future our best may not be good enough if COVID-19 cases continue to rise at their recent, rapid pace. We are working diligently to provide the best care for our patients as quickly as possible, but there could be a time coming soon when resources needed for your level of care are not available in our system or region.”

Blanchard said on Facebook that he is extremely concerned with the ability to handle the continual wave of new patients.

“When I arrived early this morning, we had 60 COVID-19 inpatients and 19 COVID-19 patients being cared for in the Emergency Departments because no hospital rooms are available (14 of which are in Tupelo),” Blanchard wrote.

In addition, Blanchard asked people to wear a mask and get vaccinated to stop the spread of the delta variant.

The main hospital for NMHS is in Tupelo, but the system also has hospitals in Amory, Eupora, Iuka, Pontotoc, West Point and Hamilton, Alabama.