San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
IN CENTRAL CALIFORNIA, ICU BED CAPACITY FALLS TO ZERO
Hospitals prepare for transfer of some non-virus patients
The number of available intensive care unit beds in California’s San Joaquin Valley plummeted to zero for the first time Saturday, state officials announced as ICU units fill up statewide amid spiking COVID-19 cases.
Just a day earlier, the region’s ICU capacity was at 4.5 percent, according to the California Department of Public Health.
The region comprising 12 counties in Central California, along with the enormous Southern California region, contain more than 60 percent of the state’s 40 million residents.
Last week, the two regions were ordered to follow the strictest ANTICOVID-19 rules under a new state stay-at-home order that aims to keep hospitals from being overwhelmed by restricting infectious contacts. But it’s anybody’s guess whether it will have the intended consequence of changing enough people’s behavior to slow infections as a vaccine is rolled out.
“It’s been frustrating,” said Chuck Davis, CEO of data science company which tracks virus numbers for San Joaquin County. “It’s like we see the train coming down the track and we’re telling people, and some people listen and get off the track and other people get on the track and start dancing.”
The 0 percent calculated by the state doesn’t mean all hospitals have run out of intensive care unit beds, and in Stanislaus County 3.6 percent of ICU beds were available as of Saturday, said Kamlesh Kaur, a spokeswoman for the county’s public health department.
“From what we understand, the state is looking at the percentage of available, staffed ICU beds and makes adjustments based on the percentage of Covid-positive patients admitted to hospitals,” Kaur said.
She said the county has activated a surge plan, which allows hospitals to transfer NON-COVID-19 patients to a facility opened by the state in Sacramento to provide relief for local hospital workers.
At least one local hospital has requested and received help from volunteer medical workers, she said.
The steadily rising caseload in the San Joaquin region comes alongside the state marking more than 1.5 million cumulative cases Friday, with an averbayesiant, age of 29,000 new cases tallied each day across California. More than 20,900 people have died in the state.
In Imperial County, El Centro Regional Medical Center recently opened a tent in its parking lot with capacity for 50 non-coronavirus patients as it deals with the crush of people with COVID-19.
Meanwhile, the state is awaiting the first batch of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine and plans to distribute it to hospitals to inoculate health care workers on the front lines of the pandemic.
Public health officials blame the surge in cases on people ignoring safety rules to wear masks and social distance except when with people from their own households.
They have voiced fears that COVID-19 infection rates and hospitalizations will continue to soar as people ignore stay-at-home orders to gather for the holidays.