Facing unprecedented caseloads, California sees a two-day record of coronavirus deaths
LOS ANGELES — California health authorities reported Thursday a record two-day total of 1,042 coronavirus deaths as many hospitals strain under unprecedented caseloads
The state Department of Public Health’s website listed 583 new deaths, a day after 459 deaths. The previous two-day record total was 1,013 deaths at the end of December.
California’s death toll since the start of the pandemic rose to 28,045.
The state’s hospitals are trying to prepare for the possibility that they may have to ration care for lack of staff and beds — and hoping they don’t have to make that choice.
California avoided surging cases for months, but now the virus is raging out of control there and across the nation in the wake of Thanksgiving holiday gatherings that authorities say vastly spread infections. Only Arizona tops California in cases per resident.
A travel advisory issued Wednesday “strongly discouraged” people from out of state from entering California. It also said Californians should avoid traveling more than 120 miles from home except for essential purposes.
California this week ordered hospitals in the hardest-hit areas to delay many elective surgeries.
In Los Angeles County, Methodist Hospital of Southern California convened an in-house triage team that makes daily evaluations “about the severity of critically ill patients that allows us to distribute resources to those who need it the most,” chief strategy officer Cliff Daniels said.
The hospital isn’t rationing care “and we hope we don’t get there,” Daniels said.
However, guidelines posted on the hospital’s website warn: “If a patient becomes extremely ill and very unlikely to survive their illness (even with life-saving treatment), then certain resources … may be allocated to another patient who is more likely to survive.”
Los Angeles County, the nation’s most populous with 10 million residents, is one of nearly two dozen in Southern California and the agricultural Central Valley that have essentially run out of intensive care unit beds.
Health officials warned Wednesday that hospitalizations will continue for at least the next three weeks as people who ignored social distancing rules to gather for Christmas and New Year’s Eve fall ill.
More than a quarter-million new weekly cases portended a continued overwhelming crush.
Vaccinations being administered at what Gov. Gavin Newsom has said is too slow a pace will take weeks or months to slow the spread.
“The numbers are extraordinary,” said Carmela Coyle, president and CEO of the California Hospital Association. “We’re not going to dodge this math. We need the state’s help.”