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California, in recent weeks, has been particularly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and many of its hospitals are inundated with critically ill patients. But the Los Angeles area hospitals that are the most overwhelmed, according to the Los Angeles Times, are the ones that primarily serve people of color and low-income patients.
Times reporters Matt Stiles, Emily Baumgaertner, Jaclyn Cosgrove and Andrew J. Campa, in an article published this week, explain that according to the publication’s research and analysis, “densely populated, non-white communities” face the “most great challenge to provide care. “
According to reporters, “Hospitals in southern Los Angeles, towns in southeastern LA County along Highway 710 and in parts of the southern San Gabriel Valley are experiencing the greatest capacity problems. , according to the data. Many of these facilities are relatively small and are less able to add intensive care staff or increase bed capacity than the county’s larger hospitals. “
Journalists continue, “The data shows how communities of color have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic, with Latino and black residents being much more likely to contract and die from the virus than whites. low-income earners often get sick during their stay at work and then spread COVID-19 to the family, officials said. “
Data release by the US Department of Health and Human Services, they write, “shows that more than 6,000 coronavirus patients were hospitalized in LA County on average last week, nearly four times more than ‘a month ago, pushing the share of all patients admitted with the disease above 40%. “
The situation is particularly dire at Kaiser Permanente Downey Medical Center, where, according to Times reporters, “over 80% of patients have or are suspected of having been infected with the virus.”
“Some new patients with the disease are treated near the emergency room, in a triage room staffed with doctors, and some who are stable enough to leave are sent home with oxygen,” explain the Times reporters. “Patients were ‘crammed into administrative corridors, crammed in corners, hanging over chairs,” said one health care worker, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal. waiting room.”
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