We can, obviously. But realize, a lot small community hospitals don’t even have ICU units.

As a large academic hospital we serve 4 different states - we get transfers from various surrounding states for difficult cases, when surgical interventions are needed, intubated patients, critically ill patients who need expert management that isn’t going to be available in *insert small town* in middle of nowhere.

Once again - what is evident is covid 19 is infectious enough to easily overwhelm the healthcare resources of a region. There have been plenty of evidence of that - no need to repeat ad nauseam.

If you want to see what things are like in US at places like NY, MI, Lousiana on the front lines, just to get a taste there are plenty of examples.