At least one South Florida hospital reported that they were at capacity, as health care facilities continue to deal with the increase in coronavirus cases.
Baptist Hospital in Kendall referred to being at capacity level Black on Wednesday, meaning they are at 98%+ capacity with zero beds available at all levels of care.
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Thursday morning, a spokesperson with the hospital told NBC 6 there is bed space now due to patients being discharged constantly.
"Though we continue to see a gradual increase in patients with COVID-19 at Baptist Health, we currently have ICU and regular acute care bed capacity throughout our organization and are not transferring patients at this time," the hospital said in a statement. "However, as a system of 11 hospitals, we have the ability to do so as well as increase capacity at our hospitals based on our surge plan, as needed."
The initial announcement was made in an email to staffers sent out Tuesday from the hospital's chief medical officer.
The email asks physicians to refer patients to two nearby emergency rooms. South Miami Hospital and Doctors Hospital both are within about a 15-minute drive. The goal according to Baptist was to avoid holding patients in their emergency department for an extended period of time.
The email doesn't specifically mention coronavirus, though it was sent on the same day Florida surpassed 1 million COVID-19 cases.
Hospital officials told NBC 6 on Wednesday that the email was sent in part to the rise in cases, but said patients with other ailments were contributing to the issue.
Hospital officials said they are not turning away patients. They said they are managing their capacity and their numbers could change by the hour, adding that it is not unusual for their facility to be at capacity and it has happened before.
Figures from the state have showed that with an increase in cases, hospitalizations have also been up in recent days with more than 4,200 patients reported statewide on Tuesday.
The figure is still less than half what hospitals saw in late July, but it has steadily climbed since October after plateauing at about 2,000 hospitalizations daily for weeks following the summer surge of the virus.
