HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Coronavirus cases have been increasing throughout Florida for weeks.

And hospitals are feeling the impact.

About 2,600 people were hospitalized across the state in the last week.

As a result, hundreds of nurses from other parts of the state are on their way to the Bay area to help at hospitals. And there's even talk about opening up a special skilled nursing center just for Covid-19 patients.

In Pinellas County, the medical director of Pinellas emergency services told commissioners Thursday the surge hospitals had braced for is happening now  and medical professionals are "stressed and exhausted."

According to Spectrum Bay News 9 partner newspaper the Tampa Bay Times, an emergency room doctor at Tampa General Hospital said patients are younger and sicker than a few months ago.

To put it in perspective, in March, April and May, the hospital saw about 15 coronavirus patients each day. Now, there are often 70 or more. About 40 percent of those patients end up in the ICU, officials said.

According to the Agency for Health Care Administration, as of Friday, about 18 percent of all hospital beds for the Bay area are available.

Here's the breakdown:

Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Pasco counties all have about 18 percent of beds available.

Citrus and Hernando counties are in better shape, with Citrus at about 25 percent of beds available and Hernando at 28 percent.

Polk has only about 16 percent of beds available and Manatee is reporting the fewest beds with about 11 percent available.

 The number of available beds changes frequently and hospitals can move things around to create more space when needed.

Even more daunting, though, Baycare officials said they're bringing in additional refrigeration supplies in case existing morgues need to be expanded.

Advent Health officials said it is also expecting a surge in Covid-19 patients and is taking action to keep staff and patients safe.

Starting Friday, any elective surgery in the Bay area requiring an overnight stay will be put on hold.

Impacted Advent Health facilities include: 

• AdventHealth Carrollwood
• AdventHealth Dade City
• AdventHealth North Pinellas
• AdventHealth Tampa
• AdventHealth Wesley Chapel
• AdventHealth Zephyrhills

Same day surgeries will go on as scheduled.

“The ability to care for our community in the safest way possible is our top priority,” said Mike Schultz, President and CEO of AdventHealth West Florida Division. “We will continue to closely monitor and evaluate the impact of COVID-19 in our facilities and we strategic processes in place that we are prepared to activate and implement to ensure we are keeping our patients, employees, physicians and community safe.”