The Department of Health and Human Services will permit all medical care providers to practice across state lines, regardless of their state license, to treat more coronavirus patients.

Vice President Mike Pence announced the new regulation Wednesday "to meet the need of hospitals that may arise in adjoining areas."

Normally, healthcare professionals must hold licenses in practice in certain states. Without the proper licensing, doctors cannot meet with patients or perform procedures outside of those states.

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Nurses also need a state license to practice. As the outbreak worsens, having already infected over 5,800 people across all 50 states, hospitals are increasingly at risk of reaching capacity and having staff stretched thin. Hospitals have begun hiring more nurses on a temporary basis. For instance, Berkshire Medical Center in Massachusetts has hired 54 new nurses to help compensate for the 160 medical care providers at the hospital now in quarantine for possible exposure to the virus, according to the Berkshire Eagle .

Pence also urged doctors to delay elective surgeries to free up hospital capacity and medical supplies to treat more patients with the coronavirus or those showing symptoms.