On Friday, the East Central District Health Department, which serves Platte, Colfax, Boone and Nance counties, said it had reached a record with 30 hospitalized COVID-19 patients and had only one available intensive-care bed.The Two Rivers Public Health Department, which covers Buffalo and several surrounding counties, said in its most recent weekly report that it had less than 10% of its ICU beds available.

In the spring, when certain areas of the state were hit with large outbreaks linked to nursing homes or meatpacking plants, there were plenty of hospital beds in Lincoln, Omaha and some other larger cities where patients could be transferred, however with urban hospitals filling at alarming rates, that is no longer an option.

"As hospital beds in our state and region become increasingly unavailable, it has become more difficult to transfer patients in need of a higher level of care for any medical reason, not just COVID-related reasons," Veronica Schmidt, CEO of Melham Medical Center in Broken Bow, said last week in a message posted on the hospital's Facebook page. "The hospital has increased staffing and other resources to meet the need; however, as current trends continue, the care needs will far surpass local and regional resources,"

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