The state’s Department of State Health Services said Texas is in “one of its worst fights” it has faced with Covid-19, and mortuary trailers were requested this month as a preparatory maneuver.

“Hospital capacity concerns worsening. Fatalities are increasing faster,” the department said Wednesday. More than 12,400 people are hospitalized with the virus as of Wednesday, according to state data, an increase from 10,791 last Wednesday.

ICU beds are running low, and health care employees are working frantically to find available space for those in need.

At Goodall Witcher Hospital in the central Texas town of Clifton, officials are finding it difficult to transfer Covid-19 patients in need of ICU care to other hospitals since they are at capacity, they say.