As the Covid-1 case is growing across the Bay Area, some of the biggest spikes are in South Santa Clara County.
Gilroy’s only hospital is struggling to keep up with demand and on Monday community leaders sounded the alarm and tried to persuade Spike – while urging people to double their efforts to stop the spread.
At Gilroy’s St. Louis Regional Hospital, the ICU was full and on average, they had to transfer one to two patients a day to other hospitals.
“We have started canceling alternative surgeries so those nurses from our surgery department are now deployed to help the ICU, the emergency department and the medsurgeon,” said Gloria della Merced.
But that’s not enough, with ICUs being filled, transfers to other hospitals have become a daily occurrence – sometimes requiring relocation to another county. While some subacute patients are being transferred here to De Paul Health Center on Morgan Hill.
“It really helps unload patients who are stable enough to discharge but don’t go home,” Mercedes said.
Gilroy and Morgan Hill have more cases than anywhere else in the county, which is why beds are filling up fast. but why?
“We know that there are many factors that are prosecuting a large number of cases. One is the density of the population living together in a small space and the other is the percentage of the population that is doing the necessary work,” said Meribel Martinez, of Santa Clara County. Said the public information officer.
And while a quarter of the nation’s population is Latino, they make up about 52% of all county cases in the county.
That’s why on Monday, community health leaders sounded the alarm in Spanish and English, urging people in the region to stay home and wear masks on New Year’s Eve.
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