LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas — Governor Asa Hutchinson announced on Tuesday there are no more ICU beds for COVID-19 patients in Arkansas.
That number can change— and change quickly— as patients are transferred in and out of hospitals, but the hospitals tell us they are still in critical numbers.
"Well, two years ago I would not have said that we are going to run out of critical care beds in the state," said Baptist Health President Greg Crain.
Baptist Health serves patients across Arkansas. In total, there are 296 COVID patients in their hospitals and almost half of them are in the ICU.
To help alleviate some of the stress on their bed capacity, Baptist Health will be opening up 18 more ICU beds.
"Three of those will be non-COVID capable. The other 15 will be able to take COVID patients in critical care," said Crain.
"Ten of those will be in our North Little Rock facility and the remainder will be in the Fort Smith hospital."
Baptist Health is bringing in more staffing with travel nurses... it's something UAMS is struggling with as well as their capacity for beds diminishes.
"The problem all along has been on the staffing end of things to make sure we have the right number of nurses, respiratory therapists, and technicians," said UAMS CEO Steppe Mette.
UAMS has a surge plan in place to add more beds, but that means adding more staff. They are looking to get federal help from out of state.
In a statement, Saline County Memorial said they do have enough beds and resources to meet the needs of their community right now.