There are now more people hospitalized with COVID in Greater Minnesota than are hospitalized in the Twin Cities, which is overwhelming some smaller hospitals.
Dr. David Hilden with Hennepin Healthcare says they get calls constantly from smaller hospitals seeking open beds for patients with all kinds of issues.
"At our hospital, at hospitals in the Twin Cities, the COVID patients are the minority. There is still some. There is way more than there ought to be, because COVID is essentially preventable. But there are people with heart attacks, people with diabetes, there are wounds that are getting out of hand that haven't been seen lately. That's what's filling up our hospitals."
The Star Tribune reports that while overall COVID hospitalizations are lower now than they were during last November's peak, more people overall are hospitalized, mainly because people who put off medical procedures during the pandemic are now getting that care.