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The U.S. state of California has surpassed 25,000 coronavirus deaths since the pandemic began, and officials revealed Thursday (local time) that three more cases involving a mutant variant of the virus have been confirmed in San Diego County.
The grim events came as a continuous tidal wave floods hospitals, pushing nurses and doctors to the brink as they prepare for another possible post-holiday surge.
“We’re exhausted and it’s calm before the storm,” said Jahmaal Willis, nurse and emergency room leader at Providence St. Mary Medical Center in Apple Valley. “It’s like we are waging a war, a war without end, and we are running out of ammunition. We have to get together before the next fight. “
Public health officials continued to plead with residents just hours before the start of 2021 not to gather for the New Year’s celebrations.
In Los Angeles County, where an average of six people die every hour from Covid-19, the Department of Public Health tweeted snippets every 10 minutes about the lives that have been lost.
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“The stylist who worked for 20 years to finally open her own store.
“A grandmother who loved to sing to her grandchildren.
“The bus driver that took his daughter to college and was beaming with pride.”
The tweets, which included messages to wear a mask, physically move away, stay home, and “Reduce the spread. Save a life, ”came a day when the county reported a record 290 deaths. That would be a rate of one death every five minutes, even though it included a delay.
Jae C. Hong / AP
Medical workers in California are inundated as Covid-19 continues to spread.
Los Angeles County, which has a quarter of the state’s 40 million residents, has had 40 percent of the deaths in California, the third state to reach the 25,000 death toll. New York has had nearly 38,000 deaths and Texas more than 27,000, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
Infections are spreading fast. San Diego County confirmed Thursday that it had found a total of four cases of the variant of the virus that appears to be most contagious. A 30-year-old man tested positive for the variant on Wednesday, and three more men – two in their 40s and one in his 50s – were also confirmed to have the strain. Other cases related to the variant have been confirmed in Florida and Colorado.
At least two of the men in San Diego County had not traveled out of the country and neither had “any known interactions between them,” the county said. Officials believe many more cases will emerge.
Jeff Chiu / AP
The United States is struggling to control the Covid-19 pandemic.
San Diego County also reported a record number of new single-day deaths of 62, well above the previous record of 39 reported just a week earlier.
Hospitals, particularly in Southern California and the agricultural San Joaquin Valley in the middle of the state, have been invaded by virus patients and have no more beds in intensive care units for Covid-19 patients.
In Los Angeles County, hospitals have been pushed “to the brink of catastrophe,” said Dr. Christina Ghaly, director of health services. “This is simply not sustainable. Not just for our hospitals, for our entire healthcare system.”
Cathy Chidester, director of the county’s Emergency Medical Services Agency, said hospitals face problems with oxygen and many Covid-19 patients need it because they have trouble breathing. Older hospitals have difficulty maintaining oxygen pressure in aging infrastructure, and some struggle to locate additional oxygen tanks for discharged patients to take home.
Damian Dovarganes / AP
Barbara Ferrer, Los Angeles County director of public health.
Ambulances are forced to wait in the bays for up to eight hours before being able to transport patients inside hospitals, and in some cases doctors treat patients inside ambulances, he said.
At Providence St Mary Medical Center, about 100 miles east of Los Angeles, there is a cacophony of alarms that sound when a patient’s heart stops and a constant hiss of oxygen that keeps so many alive, Willis said. The hospital has filled the triage area with beds and is screening the newcomers in the parking lot. Three dozen patients were waiting to be admitted.
“We are overwhelmed,” Willis said. “We are treating patients in chairs, we are treating patients in hallways.”
Jae C. Hong / AP
Public health officials in the United States fear the worst is yet to come.
In Santa Clara County, home to Silicon Valley, only 8 percent of ICU beds were available, which is better than many places. Hospitals are still “pushed to the limit,” said Dr. Ahmad Kamal, the county’s director of health preparedness.
Two months ago, the county had 4.5 cases per 100,000 residents. You now have 50 cases per 100,000.
“What we are seeing now is not normal,” Kamal said. “It is an order of magnitude more than what we saw just two months ago. We are not out of the woods. We are in the middle of the forest. And we must all redouble our efforts. “
Kamal said the only good news is that hospitals hadn’t felt the additional pressure from new cases after Christmas than they did after Thanksgiving, which has caused the current spike.
Jae C. Hong / AP
In much of California there are restrictions on businesses and individuals.
But public health officials fear that a double whammy from the people who gathered on Christmas and New Years will trigger a sudden increase. They made their final pleas to persuade people to stay home for what is usually one of the biggest party nights of the year.
“We recognize the temptation and the frustration,” said Barbara Ferrer, Los Angeles County public health director. “You may just want to miss a night to celebrate with friends. However, all it takes is one slip to have an exposure and the coronavirus has found another host, another victim, and our dangerous rise continues. “
Most of the state has a 10 p.m. curfew and recently extended restrictions that have closed or reduced capacity for businesses. People are urged to stay home as much as possible to try to slow the spread of infections.
