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Nov. 19, 2020Mission, Kan. |  By: AP

Kansas health officials urge hospitals to do more amid surge


MISSION, Kan. (AP) - Kansas health officials are urging communities to take stronger action as more hospital rooms are devoted to the care of coronavirus patients and hundreds of doctors, nurses and other workers are quarantined, leading some surgical procedures to be delayed.

State health department head and Dr. Lee Norman said Tuesday that a system that he likened to air traffic control for coronavirus patients is being put in place so nurses from rural hospitals can make a single call to find a larger hospital that can take their sickest patients.

In some cases, nursing and doctors have been spending up to eight hours looking for a large hospital with an opening. But Norman said these rural communities can't leave it entirely to the state to help.