The owner of two regional hospitals and Blue Valley Surgical Associates Clinics is expected to lay off 125 people across Missouri, including seven in Boonville, amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Pinnacle Healthcare System Inc. filed for bankruptcy in February and on April 10, its trustee filed a letter with the state warning of widespread layoffs at its two hospitals and seven surgical clinics.

Pinnacle's hospital in Boonville closed in January when state inspectors found issues with the building's HVAC system that affected the hospital's sterilization room. The cost of the fixes was too much to keep the hospital open.

After filing bankruptcy, the company attempted to reopen the Boonville hospital.

The trustee cited "disruption" to planned surgeries and business operations and "uncertainty as to the duration of the pandemic" as reasons for shutting down many operations.

Only a small number of employees will remain in Pinnacle's administrative offices in Overland Park, Kansas, to perform critical functions such as accounting, billing, planning and human resources, according to the notice.

Pinnacle Healthcare had between 200 and 999 creditors and owes between $10 million and $50 million when it filed Chapter 11 in February.

Immediate attempts to call Pinnacle's offices in Kansas were unsuccessful.

Charles Dunlap of the Boonville Daily News contributed to this report.