Record numbers of covid-19 patients push hospitals and staffs to the limit Brittany Shammas, Ariana Eunjung Cha, Ben Guarino and Jacqueline Dupree, The Washington Post Dec. 16, 2020 FacebookTwitterEmail In Boston, pediatric wards are being consolidated to fit all the adults battling covid-19. Philadelphia hospitals are once again barring family visitors due to transmission worries. And in Los Angeles, a public hospital canceled elective and scheduled surgeries because it cannot spare ICU beds. Exponentially rising hospitalizations in these and other states are pushing some hospital systems to near breaking points, with many scrambling to reconfigure themselves to handle a crush of patients streaming in after holiday gatherings and the arrival of flu season.