Help arrives for California hospitals

Struggling hospitals in the Los Angeles area are getting help from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

LOS ANGELES >> Hospitals struggling to provide enough oxygen for the sickest coronavirus patients in the Los Angeles area began to receive relief on Saturday when U.S. Army Corps of Engineers crews arrived to update their oxygen delivery systems.

The collaboration comes as the six aging hospitals struggle to maintain oxygen pressure while treating an unprecedented number of patients with respiratory issues. Besides the shortage of oxygen, the hospitals were having difficulty keeping up with demand for oxygen tanks for discharged patients to take home.

Some COVID-19 patients can require 10 times as much oxygen as a normal patient.

California started the new year on Friday by reporting a record 585 coronavirus deaths in a single day. The state Department of Public Health on Saturday reported more than than 53,341 new confirmed COVID-19 cases, bringing the total to 2.3 million.

A total of 26,357 people have died from the virus in California, making it the third state to exceed 25,000 COVID-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic, behind New York with nearly 38,000 deaths and Texas with more than 27,000, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

The southern half of the state has seen the worst effects, from the agricultural San Joaquin Valley to the Mexico border. Hospitals are swamped with patients and intensive care units don’t have any more beds for COVID-19 patients. Makeshift wards are being set up in tents, arenas, classrooms and conference rooms.