The growing pressure on Arizona hospitals to care for COVID-19 patients has prompted the federal government to urgently seek help.

Earlier this month, the State Department of Health Services received inquiries from seven hospitals regarding additional staffing. According to documents provided by the agency on Thursday, the department eventually requested a total of 133 workers.

The official application form submitted on December 4 shows that hospitals in Kingman, Bullhead City, Yuma, Douglas, Bisbee, Sierra Vista, and Wilcox require nurses to provide COVID-19 care and emergency treatment Branch support.

Department spokesperson Steve Elliott (Steve Elliott) said in an email that the request is still under federal review. At the same time, the state is continuing its recruitment efforts.

“ADHS has recruited and paid hundreds of nurses to help the hospital solve the shortage of staff. This effort is continuing,” Elliott said.

The local news media first reported the request to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

A spokesperson for FEMA was unable to comment immediately when he arrived on Thursday.

The larger hospital chain in Arizona has sounded the alarm this week, saying it is overwhelmed. The leaders of Phoenix-based Banner Health and Valleywise Health stated that the number of patients has reached the highest level since the pandemic began. The increase in hospital admissions is due to COVID-19 and people who have delayed treatment due to other issues that require critical care.

According to the Arizona Coronavirus dashboard, as of Wednesday, the number of hospitalizations in the state was 2,683.

At the same time, it reported 2,911 newly confirmed COVID-19 cases and 20 deaths. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the state has now 1,326,908 cases and 23,344 deaths.

In other developments:

— The Yavapai County Board of Supervisors approved an emergency request on Wednesday to allocate $65,000 for the construction of a 16-foot (4.9-meter) refrigerated mobile morgue. The money will come from funding for the US Rescue Program Act. Upon request, the Office of Forensic Medicine stated that the death rate associated with the virus has far exceeded its cold storage space.