US military medical teams have been deployed to five California hospitals to aid in a coronavirus war that has imposed on healthcare personnel in the worst affected areas of the state.
Doctors, nurses, and other professionals dispatched by the US Air Force will join medical personnel in Lodi, Fresno, Visalia, and Stockton, Northern California, and Rancho Mirage, Southern California, to illustrate the devastating effect the virus is having on the most populous state in the nation.
Work is already underway for the 100 military health professionals who showed up for work Friday after the state requested assistance; An additional 60 staff members are expected to be deployed by weekends, a military spokesman told the Los Angeles Times.
Relief comes when medical officials describe the shortage of medical workers as the biggest challenge in responding to the continued increase.
The coronavirus continues to spread rapidly throughout the Golden State, with a total of cases now exceeding 387,000 and 7,700 deaths attributed to the virus. The growing spread of the virus has 33 counties included on a state monitoring list, according to health care metrics, which represent 92% of the state’s population.
The number of cases continues to rise and while the examinee positivity rate has decreased slightly over the past week from 7.7% to 7.2%, no one is comfortable while the rates are north of 7%, Governor Gavin Newsom said at a press conference on Monday. Hospitalizations continue to rise, creating pressure for hospitals at critical points in the state.
In rural Placer County, for example, only 18% of ICU beds are available. San Benito County currently does not have the capacity to handle more admissions in the ICU, Newsom said, a reminder that “county by county, things look very different than they are across the state.”
Military doctors have also joined the ranks of health professionals in Texas and Florida as states continue to establish daily records of deaths and new infections.
Increasing numbers in California prompted Newsom last week to reverse plans to reopen and close all bars and indoor operations in movie theaters and museums.
As cases in Los Angeles over the weekend topped 2,200 for the first time, Mayor Eric Garcetti told CNN that the city opened too quickly and said he was “on the verge” of issuing a new order to stay home.
“I think a lot of people don’t understand, mayors often have no control over what opens and doesn’t, that’s at the state or county level,” said Garcetti. “And I agree that those things happened too quickly,” Garcetti told CNN.
Local leaders questioned Garcetti’s claim, noting that mayors can issue local orders that are stricter than those of the state, but cannot be more lenient.
Three suburban counties surrounding Los Angeles are on duty as per capita coronavirus cases in Riverside, San Bernardino and Orange counties last week outnumbered per capita infections in Los Angeles.
Despite the fact that some Orange County residents continue to mount resistance against face masks, the evidence that masks can effectively slow the spread of the greedy continues to grow.
Last week, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the nation could flatten its curve by wearing masks.
“If we could get everyone to wear a mask right now, I think in four, six, or eight weeks we could control this epidemic,” said CDC Director Robert Redfield.
