Colorado’s hospitals are discontinuing their transfer system that coordinated patient movements during the November spike, as hospitalizations dip to pre-spike levels.

“There is finally a light at the end of the tunnel with the vaccine distribution continuing, but we must all continue to wear our masks, wash our hands, watch our distance, and wait until it’s safer to gather with others,” Darlene Tad-y, the Colorado Hospital Association’s vice president of clinical affairs, said in a statement. 

The Combined Hospital Transfer Center was activated in November, as a significant portion of the state’s hospitals were reporting staffing concerns as hospitals filled and providers were infected. It facilitated the movement of patients between large systems and rural hospitals should the capacity of one become untenable.

As those cases spiked, fear mounted that the state’s hospitals, facing an unprecedented influx of patients, would be overwhelmed. At one point in November, nearly 2,000 people with confirmed or suspected COVID were hospitalized.

But the crisis has stabilized steadily over the past month. As of Wednesday, the number of people hospitalized had dropped to 572, the lowest point since October.

Should hospitals become strained again, the transfer center can be reactivated, the hospital association said in a statement.