Southern California is the most populous area of the country’s most populous state, yet today, the availability of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds stands at ZERO percent, and with the way the coronavirus is raging through the state, it looks like things will get worse, reports the Los Angeles Times.
Southern California is defined as including Imperial, Inyo, Los Angeles, Mono, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties
The current situation with ICU beds usually requires that some patients that would typically be in the ICU would be moved to other areas of a hospital, or even remain in the Emergency Room. They would still receive “intensive care,” and this strategy will work, up to a point.
Problems could arise from a strategy like this because intensive care requires trained personnel, and this situation would eventually stretch the limited numbers of ICU doctors and nurses available – putting patients that need critical care at risk.
COVID-19 Daily Update:
December 17, 2020
New Cases: 14,418 (580,325 to date)
New Deaths: 102 (8,664 to date)
Current Hospitalizations: 4,864 pic.twitter.com/HL1loxYbT2— LA Public Health (@lapublichealth) December 18, 2020
Once ICU beds are full, hospitals go into a protocol called a “surge mode.” This allows ICU’s at full capacity to accommodate an additional 20 percent over capacity. Officials have also been training hospital workers who normally work in other areas of a hospital to work in ICUs – as well as seeking nursing staff from outside the United States.
The big problem facing hospitals right now is dealing with the new surge in coronavirus cases. Surge mode projections made several weeks ago are now a non-starter because the number of cases has risen so sharply that new projections are needed to accommodate the new higher number of patients.
Let’s look at the numbers for a minute. There are 2,500 licensed ICU beds in L.A. County. The number of COVID-19 cases requiring ICU care is now at over 1,000 – four times as many as there was on November 1. Projections show that by early January, there could be 1,600 to 3,600 COVID-19 patients in need of ICU beds if virus transmission trends remain the same.
“There are simply not enough trained staff to care for the volume of patients that are projected to come and need care,” Dr. Christina Ghaly, the county’s director of health services, said. “Our hospitals are under siege, and our model shows no end in sight.”
California COVID-19, By The Numbers:
Confirmed cases to date: 1,723,362
Note: Numbers may not represent true day-over-day change as reporting of test results can be delayedMore information at pic.twitter.com/axRmF7ZvIC
— CA Public Health (@CAPublicHealth) December 17, 2020
Other areas in the state are at risk
Elsewhere in California, the remaining ICU capacity is just 0.7 percent in the San Joaquin Valley, 11.3 percent in the Sacramento area, and 13.1 percent in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Bay Area includes Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, San Francisco, and Santa Clara counties, along with the city of Berkeley. This region has only 286 ICU beds at its disposal, and as of Thursday, 207 of those beds were occupied.
Dr. Grant Colfax, San Francisco’s Public Health Director, says that the number of COVID-19 cases is averaging at least 242 new infections per day — a 27 percent increase in the last week. He also warns that the San Francisco Bay Area will be facing a “catastrophic situation” over the next few weeks if the spread of the virus is not stopped, according to CBS News,
“An increase over this next holiday period could put us over the edge into a truly catastrophic situation,” Colfax said. “We cannot afford a further increase in cases.”
“The availability of beds as well as having enough staff and nurses and doctors is the backbone of our health care system … and this status is gravely threatened,” he said. “Imagine not having a hospital bed for your mom or your dad, your grandmother, or even your child. Imagine them getting sub-optimal care. I know none of us want our city to be in that situation.”
