US hospitals are experiencing another surge of Covid-19 patients, forcing them to take extreme measures to avoid being overwhelmed. | John Moore/Getty Images

Hospitals are making plans to ration care and move patients out of state as their beds fill up.

The latest Covid-19 surge is forcing US hospitals to take drastic measures — setting up temporary facilities or preparing to transport patients to other cities and states — to avoid being overrun.

The number of Americans currently hospitalized with Covid-19 has risen by 12,000 over the last month, reaching 41,753 on October 25, according to the Covid Tracking Project. Some hospitals are drawing up plans to ration care if they have more patients than beds, the kind of worst-case scenario they’d been hoping to avoid.

Case numbers are still rising too: The US is now averaging nearly 69,000 new Covid-19 cases every day,