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LOS ANGELES – Hospitals across California are running low on intensive care beds for COVID-19 patients, ambulances are backing up in front of emergency rooms and tents for triage of the sick are mounting.
The LA Times reports that there are fewer than 100 intensive care beds available in the Los Angeles County area, a metropolis of about 10 million people.
For the entire Southern California region, the state reports that 0% of intensive care beds are available in their daily update. The region encompasses Los Angeles, San Diego, Bakersfield and the surrounding suburbs in an area of 10 counties.
The state reported a staggering 52,000 new cases of coronavirus in a single day on Thursday – roughly equal to what the entire United States averaged in mid-October – and a record high in one day of 379 deaths. Los Angeles County contributed to more than 22,000 of those new cases reported Thursday.
The California Department of Public Health said part of the sharp increase in Thursday’s numbers was due to it dealing with a backlog of tests from the previous days.
ICU bed capacity is less than 1% in the central San Joaquin Valley area, it is slightly better in the Sacramento and San Francisco area, which are 11.3% and 13.1% respectively. Northern California, areas north of Sacramento, and the Bay Area, have nearly 26% of their critical care beds available.
More than 16,000 people are in hospital with COVID-19 in California, more than triple the number a month earlier. The LA Times reports that at some hospitals in the Los Angeles County area, there is a four to five hour wait for an ambulance to disembark a patient at the hospital.
If a patient requires an intensive care bed and none are available, it means that hospital staff must house them in an area of the facility that is not normally designed for patients. intensive care, which could lead to an increase in the level of mortality.
If California were a country apart, it would rank 10th in the world for the total number of coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic, with 1,723,362, and 17th in the world for the total number of coronavirus deaths, with 21,860.
Also on Thursday, the San Francisco Department of Public Health announced a mandatory 10-day quarantine for anyone traveling to the Bay Area or anyone returning to the area after leaving.
The mandatory quarantine health ordinance applies to 9 counties in Northwestern California: San Mateo, Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, Solano, Sonoma, Napa, Marin and Santa Cruz.
Those required to quarantine should stay at home without physical interaction with others outside of their homes, except in emergencies or healthcare. They are not allowed to go to work, school or any other place outside their home for 10 days. https://t.co/MNRIwU5u2i
– San Francisco Francisco Department of Emergency Management (@SF_emergency) December 17, 2020
The health ordinance states that people who are in quarantine should not have any physical interaction with other people outside their homes, except in emergencies or health care.
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