MISSION, Kan. (AP) — Rural Kansas hospitals are struggling to transfer patients as COVID-19 numbers surge, with some patients left stranded in emergency rooms for a week while they wait for a bed.

Space also was in short supply last winter and again over the summer when the delta variant first hit the state. The situation improved slightly this fall, but now is worsening again, according to Motient, a company contracted by Kansas to help manage transfers.

It isn't just rural hospitals looking for beds. Overwhelmed hospitals as far away as Minnesota and Michigan have been looking for beds in la...