DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s number of coronavirus cases, deaths and hospitalizations continue to surge higher as medical professionals begin to worry that hospitals could be overwhelmed with patients if no action is taken to slow the virus spread. Iowa hospitals had 596 coronavirus patients on Thursday, by far the highest number so far in Iowa and the 113 patients admitted in the past 24 hours also was the highest seen since the virus surfaced in Iowa in March.

Doctors and hospital officials in Iowa are preparing for a system overrun by COVID patients by talking about how to transfer patients between hospitals and enacting surge plans that could turn non-hospital facilities into overflow bed capacity.