Saint Luke's East Hospital recently has been operating beyond its intensive care unit capacity.
A handful of local hospitals has been running out of intensive care unit beds to treat additional patients.
Since mid-November, a coronavirus surge has sent an average of roughly 180 patients with COVID-19 to Kansas City area hospitals each day.
Though COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations have declined slightly from their peaks in November and December, data show that many hospitals are continuing to operate at or near their intensive care capacity.
The “high plateau” of cases that has persisted for weeks has left hospitals straining, according to infectious disease specialist Dr. Dana Hawkinson, who spoke about capacity at the University of Kansas Health System's daily briefing on Thursday.