The state of Pennsylvania is opening four long term care regional support sites at skilled nursing facilities to try and ease hospital capacity limits and the strain on exhausted healthcare workers.

Pennsylvania's Acting Secretary of Health Keara Klinepeter says there are more than 5,500 people hospitalized in the state.

"That number may be down from recent weeks but that volume of patients is pushing hospitals to their capacity limits and straining healthcare workers who are already exhausted from the last two years of the pandemic," Klinepeter said.

The facilities will be located in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Blair County and Clarion County.

"Each facility will receive clinical and non-clinical staff support to open up to 30 beds to allow for more rapid discharge of patients from hospitals when clinically safe to do so," Klinepeter said.

General Health Resources will provide the clinical staff including RN's, LPN's and CNA's. The Pennsylvania National Guard will also contribute support staff.

State officials say this will free up space for people who don't have COVID, but still need acute care.

"The types of individuals who will go to these facilities are individuals that the hospital and their personal physician or clinician has determined to be clinically indicated to no longer be in the hospital and they still do required skilled nursing services," Klinepeter said.

The plan is for the support sites to be up and running in 7-10 days and then likely in use for 90 days.

"Since this is one part of a multi-prong effort that we are doing to support our hospitals, we're going to see how this goes and continue to refine the process based on feedback we hear from them as well as the skilled nursing facilities," Klinepeter said.