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Hospital officials on Tuesday called on the public to follow coronavirus precautions as cases rise and staff and space at local hospitals shrink to dangerous levels.
At Riverside Community Hospital – where officials have said 214 COVID-19 patients are currently admitted – a former cafeteria was converted over the weekend to an alternative care space to handle the influx of patients waiting at the hospital. emergency a hospital bed.
“What I see is devastation,” hospital chief nursing officer Annette Greenwood told the City News Service. “I have been a nurse for 33 years and have never seen anything like it.
She said the current spike in coronavirus cases was mainly due to Thanksgiving gatherings. The potential impact of the Christmas holidays is only beginning to appear.
“I don’t think we’ve seen what the Christmas wave will look like yet. And that’s what scares us to death. They’re talking about doubling the number we’re seeing right now and that would overwhelm us,” A Greenwood said.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Tuesday that Americans can expect to start receiving their COVID-19 relief direct payment by direct deposit as early as Tuesday evening.
The California National Guard has deployed nine members of its medical team
body to help the hospital emergency department and six nurses to help
ICU, but officials said hospital remains understaffed, with intensive care unit
completely full.
“There is no additional resource to be gained in terms of nurses,” Greenwood said. “People are taking extra shifts. They are everything for these COVID patients. You can’t have your family with you because of the risk, so we pray with these patients, we help them call their families, we sing with them and when we need it we are that last hand to hold before them. people don’t spend in eternity. And so, the emotional and physical strain is just overwhelming for the team. ”
Kaiser Permanente’s Riverside and Moreno Valley Medical Centers have reported that their intensive care units are also at full capacity and have had to convert conference rooms, waiting rooms and other areas of hospitals to patient care as part of their emergency plan.
The facilities are treating a total of 211 patients with COVID-19, officials said.
Riverside University Health System Medical Center officials said the facility was implementing a surge plan and its intensive care unit was overcapacity, beds in other parts of the hospital were straining. filling up quickly.
“I just can’t reach out to say please wear a mask, please social distancing. Don’t get together on New Years Eve, please don’t,” a Greenwood said.
County-wide coronavirus hospitalizations on Monday stood at 1,367, up 40 from Thursday, according to RUHS. This includes 282 patients in the intensive care unit, 27 more than last week.
The number of people with COVID-19 in intensive care units has increased 151% since November 27.
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