Alabama hospitals are out of ICU beds, Montgomery's mayor says. That 'dire' situation could crop up across rural America as states reopen.

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• Montgomery, Alabama is "down to just a handful of ICU beds," according to Mayor Steven Reed, and the city has begun transferring critical patients to Birmingham.
• As states reopen and the coronavirus spreads through rural America, small-town and rural-adjacent hospitals could face overwhelming waves of COVID-19 patients.
• Experts told Business Insider they feared what fast upticks in coronavirus cases could mean for rural facilities that don't have the staff or resources to handle the influx.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

As the state of Alabama lifts coronavirus restrictions, hospital intensive care units in its capital are running out of beds.

Montgomery hospitals are "down to just a handful of ICU beds," Mayor Steven Reed told Business Insider on Thursday. Many of the incoming patients are from surrounding rural counties which don't have ICUs.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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