ST. CLOUD -- CentraCare Health has not been treating an in-patient COVID-19 positive patients so far. CentraCare Dr. George Morris says while none of their facilities have had any patients in their hospitals yet, they have had some patients that have tested positive for COVID-19 and are recovering at home.

Morris says right now they do have the capacity of ICU beds if they start to see more cases locally, and they are in the process of converting more rooms.

Our additional challenges are equipment, do we have enough ventilators?  Currently, our ICU and cardiac unit beds all have machines.

Morris says they also need to train staff to be able to work in the Intensive Care Unit.

We're moving more into that world as we need them.  We have a lot of people that have performed these skills or have that knowledge.

Morris says right now St. Cloud Hospital is not being overrun with patients. Tuesday Minnesota Governor Tim Walz announced the state has only 243 adult ICU beds available.

So far -- as of Tuesday -- in the tri-county area Stearns county has had five confirmed COVID-19 cases and there has been one each in Benton and Sherburne counties.

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