Gov. Janet Mills on Wednesday activated additional Maine National Guard members to provide support to hospitals facing bed shortages as the state continues to see record-breaking COVID-19 hospitalizations.

The announcement comes as Maine experiences record-high hospitalizations (379), record high patients in critical care (117) and a tie for the most people on ventilators (60). In addition, the state on Wednesday set a one-day record for cases with 1,275.

Up to 75 guard members will be asked to fill support roles, such as transporting patients and administering monoclonal antibodies, which can help prevent serious illness and keep people out of hospitals. The effort is expected to free up “dozens” of hospital beds, Maine Department of Health and Human Services Commissioner Jeanne Lambrew said.

“Enhancing those facilities’ ability to accept more patients will relieve the bottleneck that will allow more hospitals to provide more in-patient care for more people with COVID-19 and other serious health problems,” Mills said during the state’s weekly COVID briefing.

In addition, Mills is asking the Biden Administration to deploy teams of medical professionals to Maine Medical Center in Portland and Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston to help provide care for COVID patients.

In response to the surge in cases, MaineHealth, the state’s largest health care provider, said Wednesday it is again reducing the number of non-emergency surgeries it will perform because of record hospitalizations.

“We don’t think we’ve seen the full brunt of this surge and probably won’t for another two to three weeks,” said Dr. Andrew Mueller, CEO of MaineHealth. “We fear that will lead right into what will ultimately become a post-Christmas and New Year’s surge.”

Statewide, there were 42 available critical care beds on Wednesday, with 31 for adults and 11 for children. That number varies from day to day depending on staffing levels.

At Maine Medical Center, the hospital has temporarily closed six additional operating rooms to free up the staff needed to care for increasingly sick patients. The hospital will cut by half the number of non-emergency surgeries it will perform as it works to juggle multiple health care needs, said Dr. Joel Botler, chief medical officer at the hospital.

At Northern Light Health, with 10 hospitals throughout the state, the situation is not as dire, but starting Friday, the hospital will consider delaying procedures that might require an overnight hospital stay to ensure there’s enough bed capacity, said Dr. James Jarvis, COVID-19 senior physician executive.

Similar to MaineHealth, staffing shortages continue to be an issue, not only at hospitals and clinics, but also at skilled and long-term care facilities. Neither MaineHealth nor Northern Light are contemplating the need for overflow facilities, and even if they did, they would not have enough people to staff them, officials said.

In addition to getting vaccinated, Jarvis pleaded with the public to take other precautions.

“By all means, please wear a mask while you are out in public and stay home if you’re not feeling well,” he said. “We cannot have any more spread of this disease because it will overwhelm our health care systems and then you will be talking about having no place for a patient to come when they do have that urgent need.”

At Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, there are 14 people in critical care beds, with one available. But the hospital will not turn people away if they need help, said spokesman Jim Cyr.

“As always, Central Maine Healthcare will care for anyone who comes to our hospitals,” he said.

Hospitals in Penobscot County are nearly full, a combination of COVID-19 patients, limited capacity at long-term care facilities and pandemic-related illnesses, according to the Bangor Daily News. As of Friday, nine out of 10 inpatient beds were filled, the newspaper reported.

During a press briefing, physicians from MaineHealth described the worst conditions they’ve seen during the pandemic. COVID patients are sicker and spend more time in the hospital, which puts more pressure on the availability of services for others, Botler said.

“Maine Medical Center is really at full capacity,” he said. “There is no more room at this point.”

Mueller said sending patients out of state for treatment is also becoming less likely as hospitals in Boston and other areas begin to fill up. He said as recently as “several weeks ago” they could send people to other states for help as needed.

On Wednesday, MaineHealth had 116 patients in various hospitals being treated for COVID-19, 82 of whom were unvaccinated. In the intensive care unit, 39 out of 48 have not been immunized and 17 of the 20 people on ventilators also are unvaccinated.

“This really largely is a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” Mueller said. “This is especially true for our patients in our critical care units. Those critical care patients are challenging with COVID because they are very sick. They are here for an enormous length of time.”