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Authorities in California are sounding new alarms over a significant increase in hospitalizations related to COVID-19 amid an increase fueled by the Delta variant of the coronavirus.
While the numbers are still well below levels seen during the fall and winter – when some hospitals have been pushed to their breaking points – the rise is still alarming for a tired and exhausted healthcare system after nearly a year and a half on the lines pandemic front.
Many of the state’s most populous areas have seen their COVID-19-related hospitalizations double within a matter of weeks.
And overall, California has seen its total number of coronavirus-positive hospital patients drop from 2,981 on July 25 to 5,973 on Sunday.
Regional distribution:
Los Angeles County
In LA County, hospitalizations have doubled in the past 15 days, from 745 on July 24 to 1,503 on Sunday – the region’s worst number since the final days of the devastating wave of fall and winter. winter.
Orange County
Between July 27 and Thursday, hospitalizations in Orange County rose from 215 to 453, which more than doubled in just over a week. The number of COVID-19 patients rose to 463 on Saturday, the worst since late February, before dropping slightly to 453 on Sunday.
Elsewhere in Southern California
Hospitalizations fell from 239 on July 26 to 484 on Sunday in San Diego County, and have also at least doubled in the past 15 days in Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties.
Bay area
Across the nine counties of the San Francisco Bay Area, 436 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized on July 22. On Sunday, they were 881.
Sacramento
In Sacramento County, hospitalizations doubled from 148 on July 24 to 315 on Sunday.
Fresno
In Fresno County, the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients doubled from 100 on July 28 to 214 on Sunday.
According to an analysis from The Times, 14 counties in California are reporting per capita rates of more than 20 COVID-19 hospital patients per 100,000 population – as bad as the rate of influenza patients hospitalized at the height of influenza season.
The hardest hit counties are in and around the Central Valley, including Sacramento, Fresno, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Solano, Placer, Butte, Kings, Nevada, Yuba, Tuolumne and Amador counties, as well as the counties of Lake and Del Norte in northern California.
Not vaccinated
Data continues to show that the vast majority of people infected with, and ultimately hospitalized with, COVID-19 are not vaccinated.
For the week of July 31, the average rate of coronavirus cases among unvaccinated Californians was 33 per 100,000 population per day, nearly five times the comparable rate of vaccinated individuals.
As of last week, the risk of being hospitalized for COVID-19 in LA County was 19 times higher among those who are not fully vaccinated than those who are, according to the county public health director, Barbara Ferrer.
And in Orange County, supervisor Katrina Foley said Monday that 90% of COVID-19 patients who have been hospitalized have not been vaccinated.
“Very few of us are going out [of the pandemic] without contracting COVID disease or getting vaccinated, ”said Dr. Matthew Zahn, Orange County deputy health officer and pediatric infectious disease expert. “And, clearly, getting the vaccine is the safest and healthiest way for us to go.”
More than 90% of the county’s coronavirus cases that were then analyzed for genomic sequencing have been identified as being caused by the ultra-contagious Delta variant, he added in a briefing Monday.
Delta, he continued, “is the reason we are seeing an increase in the number of cases overall.”
Hospitals
In a letter last week, Dr Carl Schultz, director of emergency medical services for the Orange County Health Care Agency, urged area hospitals to take action to reduce unloading times for ambulance patients – thus than the number of hours they devote to diversion. , when ambulances are redirected to other medical facilities.
“It’s not sustainable,” he wrote in a letter Wednesday. “We have not seen an increase in the number of ambulances of this magnitude since the worst days of the second wave in December 2020 and January 2021.”
Several days ago, Orange County reported that it took 44 minutes to unload 90% of its ambulance patients in hospitals. Normally, it takes about 25 minutes to unload an ambulance patient.
The unloading time, however, has improved more recently and was around 32 minutes on Sunday.
“We are still in an area where I am worried, but we are not in crisis at the moment,” Schultz said during a press briefing on Monday.
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