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SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – San Diego County hospital leaders say they support Governor Gavin Newsom’s new regional stay-at-home order, which uses the capacity of intensive care beds as a measure to impose tighter restrictions due to COVID-19.
“We’re tight now. It’s a serious situation and we need everyone’s help,” said Chris Van Gorder, CEO of Scripps Health.
Under the new order, if a region ever had less than 15% of its intensive care beds available, the state would put an “emergency brake” in place, placing more restrictions on businesses and activities.
Van Gorder said several San Diego hospital executives spoke to state health officials this week about the order and agreed the critical care metric is as good as any number to measure. the severity of the pandemic.
He said running out of intensive care beds would devastate the hospital system, affecting everyone in need of intensive care, not just COVID-19 patients.
“To be really frank, people could die if we don’t have the right equipment, beds and trained staff to take care of them when they have an emergency,” said Van Gorder.
A spokesperson for Sharp HealthCare echoed those sentiments, sending this statement to ABC 10News: “We want people to stay healthy and out of hospital for COVID-19 by following safe practices so that intensive care beds be available for patients who have been seriously ill, accidents, cannot breathe on their own, or have had invasive surgeries. “
Van Gorder said grouping counties into regions makes sense, as many of them are already under mutual aid agreements to help each other.
“Imperial County is a classic example,” he said. “Their hospitals in July were filling up very quickly, and San Diego was a lifeboat … When you look at the wider area, there are a lot of hospitals in those areas, some hospitals may not be. as affected as others. some other hospitals so they are available and expected to take patients. “
According to state figures, the Southern California region – of which San Diego County is a part – currently has 20.6% of their intensive care beds. Experts warn it could fall below 15% in the coming week.
Hospital officials say the San Diegans can help by wearing masks, social distancing and following other health and safety guidelines.
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