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The capacity of intensive care beds in Santa Clara County was filling up rapidly this week amid an increase in the number of COVID cases in the region. And with 253 COVID patients currently hospitalized there, including 72 in intensive care, the county appears to be the first in the Bay Area to run out of space for the critically ill.
According to data from Santa Clara County and the state of California, there were 56 intensive care beds available in county hospitals on Wednesday, with another 56 occupied by COVID-positive patients and 222 occupied by other patients. hospitalized. That number fell on Thursday, with 72 COVID patients in intensive care beds in the county.
In the first half of November, just over half of the intensive care beds in Santa Clara County remained available – ranging between 52 and 53 percent, as shown in the graph below. But just over the past week, that uptime has quickly dropped to 30% or less. (The red line indicates the remaining capacity in ICU beds daily since October 28.)
Earlier this week, Santa Clara County officials sounded more alarm bells ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday and warned businesses of a crackdown on distancing measures ahead of Black Friday.
“We have had the highest hospitalization rates we have ever had since March,” Public Health Department spokeswoman Betty Duong told KTVU. “Our hospitalization rates increased 88 percent last week. These are alarming numbers.”
Hospitalizations are rising in the Bay Area, but bed capacity issues appear to be coming first in Santa Clara County, which has recorded the highest cumulative number of COVID cases in the nine-county area for much of the pandemic. The number currently stands at 32,454 people.
Health officials have consistently warned that the relatively low death rate seen from the coronavirus in the Bay Area has a lot to do with available staff and hospital capacity – with the quality of care declining as overcrowded hospitals become. because doctors and nurses have less time. to devote to each patient individually.
In Alameda County, which has the second-highest cumulative total of cases with 28,225, there are currently 211 hospitalized COVID patients, including 46 in intensive care beds. This marks an 80% increase in hospitalizations in the county compared to just 10 days earlier, when 117 COVID patients were hospitalized. The available bed capacity in Alameda County, however, is 42%, similar to the capacity available at the start of October.
San Francisco has also seen an increase in hospitalizations over the past 10 days, from 51 on November 17 to 74 on Thanksgiving Day – a 45% increase.
There are currently 821 COVID hospital patients in the Bay Area, up 54% from 10 days ago, when there were 532.
Previously: As COVID surge hits Bay Area hospitals, health officials brace for the worst
Photo: Marcelo Leal
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