Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts has announced multiple initiatives aimed at boosting healthcare staffing amid the latest COVID-19 wave, including limiting elective procedures at hospitals in the state.

New Mexico has started a waiting list for intensive care unit beds for the first time amid a COVID-19 surge and short supply of nurses, according to USA Today.

Amid the latest COVID-19 wave, physicians at healthcare facilities in the South are reporting treating more pregnant women critically ill with the virus in intensive care units than at any point during the pandemic, according to NBC News.

Oregon, Kentucky and Hawaii have set pandemic records for COVID-19 hospitalizations amid the latest wave.

Memorial Hermann Health System has temporarily closed three of its 24-hour standalone emergency rooms as COVID-19 continues to strain hospital operations, the Houston-based health system confirmed to Becker's.

Kentucky will send National Guard members to struggling hospitals as the state set new pandemic records Aug. 23 for residents with COVID-19 who are hospitalized, admitted to the intensive care unit and on ventilators, Gov. Andy Beshear said during a press conference.  

The Queen's Health Systems in Honolulu said it is rescheduling nonemergency surgeries and taking other safety measures after a surge in COVID-19 patients prompted it to declare an internal state of emergency. 

COVID-19 hospitalizations among children are at the highest level since HHS started tracking them last year, and some children's hospitals are preparing for surges to worsen as schools reopen, The Wall Street Journal reported Aug. 22.

The intensive care unit at UAB Hospital in Birmingham, Ala., is seeing an "extraordinary" number of pregnant women, Steve Stigler, MD, director of UAB Hospital's medical ICU, said Aug. 20. 

Scripps Health is temporarily postponing some medical procedures because of significant staffing shortages and a jump in COVID-19 cases, the San Diego, Calif.-based system said Aug. 20, according to CBS News 8.

Hospitals in the West are still inching toward returning to 2019 patient volume levels, according to a new survey of 100 hospitals from management consulting firm McKinsey & Co. 

The U.S. currently has a seven-day COVID-19 hospitalization average of 86,877, second only to last winter's surge, when the seven-day average hit 137,484 on Jan. 10, according to data tracked by The New York Times.

Several Baylor Scott & White Health facilities are postponing elective procedures amid the latest COVID-19 wave, with the specific facilities affected varying daily.

Several hospitals ending inpatient care this year cited lower patient volume as the reason for scaling back services. 

As of Aug. 17, Alabama had more patients in need of intensive care unit beds than designated ICU beds, according to The Washington Post and Montgomery, Ala.-based TV station WSFA.

Kindred Hospital Northwest Indiana, a 70-bed long-term acute care hospital in Hammond, is shuttering.

Hospitals didn't see a sharp increase in healthcare utilization because of pent-up demand for deferred care in the last year, according to an Aug. 17 analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation and Epic Health Research Network. 

COVID-19 hospitalizations among Americans under age 50 have increased, setting a pandemic record, both with children and 18- to 49-year-olds, according to the latest CDC data and The New York Times.

The University of Mississippi Medical Center is opening its second field hospital in a parking garage as the Jackson-based system sees a surge in COVID-19 patients, according to Mississippi Today.

More than 1,900 children in the U.S. were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Aug. 14 — a record high since the start of the pandemic, CNBC reported.