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Overflowing hospital morgues, increased 911 wait times, beds only open when patients die Hospitals in California, where nearly all of the state’s 40 million people live under orders to stay at home, experience historical stress points.
The surge in new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations is pushing Los Angeles County hospitals “to the brink of disaster,” a senior health official said.
In just over a month, Los Angeles County has doubled its number of infections from around 400,000 cases on November 30 to more than 800,000 cases on January 2, health officials said Monday. .
The deluge of cases has resulted in an increase in the number of patients with Covid-19, an overwhelming of hospitals and a reduction in the capacity of intensive care units in the region. There are now more than 7,600 people hospitalized with Covid-19 in the county, 21% of whom are in intensive care, officials said.
With no hospital beds available, county ambulance teams were advised not to transport patients with low chances of survival. And patients who are transported often have to wait hours for a bed to become available.
“Hospitals are declaring internal disasters and must open church gymnasiums to serve as hospital units,” said supervisor Hilda Solis, calling the situation a “human catastrophe”.
And one person dies from the virus every 15 minutes, Los Angeles County Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer said.
As hospitalizations increase, the Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services Agency (EMS) has ordered ambulance teams not to transport patients with low chances of survival to hospitals and to keep the use of oxygen.
Before the pandemic, when health workers and resources were more readily available, patients who were unlikely to recover could be transported by ambulance to hospital for treatment.
But Los Angeles hospitals are now at full capacity and many medical facilities do not have the space to accommodate patients who have no chance of survival, the agency said. Patients whose hearts have stopped despite resuscitation efforts, the county EMS said, should no longer be transported to hospitals.
“Effective immediately, due to the severe impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on EMS and 9-1-1 receiving hospitals, adult patients (18 years or older) in blunt traumatic cardiac arrest and not -hospital (OHCA) must not be transported [if]the return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) does not happen on the ground, ”the agency said in a note addressed to ambulance attendants last week.
If there is no sign of breathing or pulse, EMS will continue to perform resuscitation for at least 20 minutes, the memo reads. If the patient is stabilized after the resuscitation period, then he will be taken to hospital. If the patient is pronounced dead at the scene or if the pulse cannot be restored, paramedics will no longer transport the body to hospital.
And even after arriving at hospitals, some paramedics have to wait outside for hours, as hospitals often don’t have enough beds to accommodate patients.
“We wait a minimum of two to four hours to get to the hospital and now we have to drive even further… then wait another three hours,” EMT Jimmy Webb told CNN affiliate KCAL.
Local officials have tried to encourage the public not to call 911 unless “they really need it,” said Dr Marc Eckstein, the commander of the Los Angeles Fire Department’s EMS office, said. at KABC, a subsidiary of CNN.
“I think this next four to six week period will be critical with our taxed system,” Eckstein added.
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