Stay-at-home orders were imposed on any area of California where capacity available in intensive care units has fallen below 15%. The original order was to run for three weeks, ending December 28.
But Southern California’s ICU capacity is about 0% as hospitals are tight as new patients continue to grow.
To exit a state-of-the-art order, a field must return to at least 15% ICU capacity. After hitting this mark, estimates must predict that the area will remain at that level for at least another four weeks before the order is withdrawn.
“It is likely that the area of regional stay order on home orders will expand to many regions of California,” state health officials said in a statement released Saturday. “Territories should remain under home order on a regional investment for at least three weeks and will continue for four weeks from the time the assessment is made until ICU capacity estimates exceed 15% or so.”
Los Angeles County hospitals have 6,770 Kovid-19 patients, 20% of whom are in the ICU.
San Joaquin Valley is also at 0% ICU capacity, while the bay area is 11.3%; Greater Sacramento is 16.9% and the rest is 33.9% in Northern California.
Los Angeles County reported 13,185 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, plus 15,538 cases on Friday. More than 706,000 cases have been reported in the county since the outbreak and 9,438 people have died.
One person in Los Angeles County is now dying from Covid-19 every 10 minutes, local officials said.
Hospitals are scrambling to make room for the influx of patients, but they say a more difficult challenge is not the space, but the adequate staff to provide proper care.
“He’s very busy,” said Infectious Diseases Specialist Dr. “Emergency rooms, hospitals, ICUs. They’re very busy. The numbers are growing. They’re more than anything we’ve seen in the past. They’re double and triple what we last saw.”
U.S. In 18 million cases are passed
Another concern is the new strain of the virus that has been found in the United Kingdom. It has been described as 70% more transmissible in the previous strain. Officials in Los Angeles say the city is becoming a hub for international travel, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see that new strain here.
The country now has more than 18 million confirmed cases and about 120,000 hospital admissions.
More than 2 million cases have been reported in California with 23,983 deaths.
Despite the concerns, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
About 2 million Americans have now received the COVID-19 vaccine.
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