The University of Vermont Medical Center will postpone “a few hundred” elective surgeries to deal with rising COVID-19 cases, hospital officials said on Wednesday.

Next week, the state’s largest hospital will stop using seven of its operating rooms to create five additional beds for people in need of intensive care. The move will prepare the UVM Medical Center to welcome a wave of COVID-19 patients entering Vermont hospitals and intensive care units at levels never seen before.

The change, which will last until the end of the year, comes at the expense of other patients who have had surgeries such as hip and knee replacements scheduled for December.

“We are extremely sorry for anyone whose proceedings are delayed,” Stephen Leffler, president and CEO of UVM Medical Center, said at a press conference. “But it’s extremely important right now that we make that adjustment so that we can be there for the sickest Vermonters who need us.”

State officials recently asked all hospitals in Vermont to ensure their intensive care units are fully operational in light of worrying COVID-19 case projections, Leffler said. The 46 intensive care beds at UVM Medical Center were already fully equipped, but hospital officials determined they may soon be overwhelmed and decided to expand the unit by converting other spaces. As of Wednesday morning, 44 of the 46 existing intensive care beds were in use, said Patrick Bender, quality manager. COVID-19 patients occupied seven of these beds.

Vermont on Tuesday set a new record for the number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals at 84. In a state where more than 83% of people have received at least one dose of a vaccine, two-thirds of those hospitalized do not had not been vaccinated. The number of COVID-19 patients in Vermont intensive care units hit a new high on Wednesday 22. State officials say those numbers are expected to remain high for several weeks.

The Central Vermont Medical Center in Berlin, affiliated with the UVM Health Network, is also trying to expand its intensive care capacity, but faces a different challenge than the hospital in Burlington. The CVMC is still trying to get mobile nurses so it can open three existing intensive care beds that have been offline due to workforce limitations, said President and COO Anna Noonan. Most surgeries at CVMC are outpatient and will not be affected, she said.

UVM Medical Center is still determining exactly what procedures it will have to postpone until at least January. Affected patients will be notified soon, Bender said.

The hospital also faces complications related to costs and insurance. Most insurance plans bill on an annual cycle, and deferring a procedure to the next calendar year can affect the amount the patient has to pay. Leffler said the state “has promised to partner with insurance companies to try to help in this situation,” but the issue is not yet resolved.

The COVID-19 outbreak is the latest stressor on an already strained healthcare system in Vermont. Patients at UVM Medical Center suffer from long wait times as the hospital and others increasingly rely on itinerant nurses to fill a labor shortage.