Hospital and nursing officials fear that if COVID-19 cases continue unchecked there won't be enough nurses to staff new hospital beds in the near future in the Kansas City metro area.

"All the things we were worried about could be possible in March, April and May are actually happening right now, and that should be scary for all of us," said David Wild, vice president of performance improvement at the University of Kansas Health System.

Kansas health officials on Monday added 4,425 cases to the state's pandemic tally since Friday, bringing the total to 157,446. Data showed that Kansas averaged...