At one time, the surge in COVID cases caused by the delta variant forced Springfield hospitals to send patients elsewhere.

Now, Cox Health is taking in more patients from other states.

President and CEO Steve Edwards says Cox has about 30 patients from Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Tennessee.

Edwards says Cox gets about 40 requests for help from other states every day.

123 Covid + inpatients, 7 day rolling symptomatic % positivity rate 13%, yesterday 16%. We will be watching this number over the next several weeks, hoping it will trend down, preparing for the possibility it trends up. pic.twitter.com/G0vw1YLH89

— Steve Edwards (@SDECoxHealth) September 7, 2021

Mercy is reporting cases are declining, but it has one patient in the hospital from another state.

41 COVID+ @MercySGF today. 26 non-infectious. Down to 2 dedicated COVID units. We had 6 open at our peak. We continue to encourage vaccines. The higher the vaccination rates, the lower the future spikes. https://t.co/eu5DSyomX0

— Erik Frederick (@CAOMercySGF) September 9, 2021