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LOS ANGELES: California surpassed 25,000 coronavirus deaths since the start of the pandemic, reporting the grim milestone on Thursday (Dec. 31) as a continued surge floods hospitals and pushes nurses and doctors to the limit as they prepare for another possible increase after holidays. .
“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 lives that have been lost.
“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.
READ: The world begins to usher in a closed New Year amid COVID-19
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 rapidly and California confirmed Wednesday that it found a second reported case in the U.S. of a mutant variant of the coronavirus that appears to be more contagious. It is unclear where the 30-year-old San Diego man became infected with the variant or whether it had caused a wider spread of the disease.
Hospitals, particularly in Southern California and the agricultural San Joaquin Valley in the middle of the state, have been overrun 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 are having trouble breathing.
Older hospitals are struggling to maintain oxygen pressure in aging infrastructure, and some are struggling to locate additional oxygen tanks for discharged patients to take home.
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 km 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.”
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 “stretched to the limit,” said Dr. Ahmad Kamal, the county’s health preparedness director.
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.
READ: Times Square entrenched, quiet for New Years Eve
READ: US COVID-19 Vaccines In 2020 Far Below 20 Million People Target
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.
Los Angeles police will patrol the streets and seek to shut down big New Year’s Eve gatherings, Mayor Eric Garcetti said. San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria issued an executive order mandating the stricter enforcement of state and local public health rules.
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