All Full: Kansas City Hospitals Turn Away Ambulances

The Kansas City Star reports:

Some Kansas City area hospitals, facing their biggest influx of coronavirus patients since the pandemic began, are refusing ambulances because their beds are already filled, according to a leading doctor at St. Luke’s Health System.

On Wednesday night, eight metro hospitals and emergency departments reported such high volumes of patients that they temporarily stopped accepting ambulances, Marc Larsen, Operations Director of Saint Luke’s COVID Response Team, said in a phone interview Thursday.

The worsening conditions in Kansas City come as Missouri reports record hospitalizations and rural Kansas hospitals say they are under pressure. As of Thursday morning, 150,554 Missourians have tested positive for the coronavirus and 2,442 had died, according to state health department data.

Photo: Missouri Gov. Mike Parsons.