The number of positive COVID cases is rising so quickly that it is threatening to overwhelm the health care resources here in the state.".
In recent weeks, the state has experienced drastic increases in the numbers of COVID-19 positive patients and hospitals are reaching or exceeding the capacity of their intensive care units, Brennan said.
"At Benefis Health System we began to see an increase not only in the number of hospitalized patients from Great Falls and our usual region, but we were also seeing an increase in the number of patients transferred to us from other parts of the state where ICUs were full," Brennan said.
Steve Bullock said the state has put out a nationwide request for medical workers, especially registered nurses, to come to Montana to help the state's health workers treat coronavirus patients but said "we haven't gotten anything back.".
Montana reported a record 735 newly confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Thursday.
Fifty-three COVID-19 patients were hospitalized in Great Falls on Wednesday while another 27 are in Kalispell's hospital, the state health department reported.
In the seven months since the pandemic began, Montana has reported nearly 21,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 230 deaths.