This story is part of our Quick Hits series. This series will bring you breaking news and short updates from throughout the state.

Update: Computer systems at Wyoming Medical Center, as well as the three other Banner Healthcare hospitals in Wyoming, were restored as of July 19 at 3 pm. The outage was confirmed to be the result of a CrowdStrike update.

A global IT outage is wreaking havoc on airlines, banks, police and other systems around the world. The outage is causing chaos at four Banner Healthcare hospitals in Wyoming, leaving some patients awaiting surgery in limbo.

Mandy Cepeda, Banner Healthcare's public relations director for the Western US, said hospitals in Whorland, Torrington, Wheatland and Casper are open for inpatient and emergency care. But operating room personnel at Banner Medical Center, in Casper, can't log into their computer systems, which means they can't clean their limited supply of surgical instruments. If they run out of sterile instruments, they plan to send patients to other hospitals in the state on a case-by-case basis.

Cepeda said that many of Banner's clinics, imaging, and other outpatient facilities in Wyoming will be closed July 19 while IT staff work to get systems back online.

Cepeda could not say when systems will be online again.

This reporting was made possible by a grant from the Corporation For Public Broadcasting, supporting state government coverage in the state. Wyoming Public Media and Jackson Hole Community Radio are partnering to cover state issues both on air and online.