A Fort Lauderdale hospital has temporarily closed its maternity ward due to staff shortages related to recent outbreaks of COVID-19.
Mothers-to-be who had planned on giving birth at Holy Cross Health will have to find another option.
“In the best interest of patient safety, the Labor and Delivery unit is on diversion until further notice,"Holy Cross spokeswoman Christine Walker said in a statement issued Sunday.
She said the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Post-Partum units at the hospital remain open.
Nearby hospitals including Memorial Healthcare System and Broward Health are taking on patients from Holy Cross in the meantime.
The announcement from Holy Cross comes as Florida continues to shatter daily records for new COVID cases, fueled by the omicron variant. The variant is now the dominant strain across the United States.
Since the Christmas holiday, there have been long lines at testing sites across Florida.