California hospitals are going through a hard time in arranging beds for COVID19 patients. The officials fear that surging cases of COVID19 will drain out resources in the hospitals and staff. Around 17400 patients have been hospitalized with coronavirus infection in the state recently. The number of hospitalization has increased by twofold as compared to the peak in July. A state model, which looks at current data to predict future trends, has shows that the number can shoot up to 75000 by mid-January. As per the report, more than 3600 confirmed or suspected cases of COVID19 have been admitted in intensive care units. All of southern California and the San Joaquin Valley to the north as well have drained out their standard intensive care unit capacity. The state’s overall ICU capacity has been only 2 percent last week. The death toll due to surging cases of COVID19 as well has increased enormously in the state in the last six weeks. Around 1600 people have lost their lives due to the pandemic last week in the state.
Los Angeles has been hard hit by the surging cases of the disease. The director of Public Health Los Angeles County, Barbara Ferrer has urged people to take precautions such as social distancing, wearing masks, and staying home as much as possible. She has said that places, where people from different households gather without taking any precautions, contribute to the unnecessary transmission of the virus, which eventually results in hospitalization and at time deaths due to disease. LA County health officials have said that they have changed their health orders to comply with the recent US Supreme court ruling, which has allowed indoor and outdoor services for places of worship with strict safety measures.
As businesses have come to a halt due to surging cases of COVID19, hospitals are getting ready for the possibility of rationing care. The officials from LA County have asked doctors across four hospitals to change their strategy of treatment. Health professionals have been asked to change their goal from trying everything to save a life to save as many patients as possible. This new strategy says that people who have the least chances of survival will not get the same kind of treatment as they would get in normal times. The officials have said that mandate does not mean that system is trying to limit the resources, but at times, some compromises become unavoidable. They have said that hospitals do not have adequate resources to provide care in a regular manner. Christina Ghaly, the director of the County’s Health Services has said that the decision has been taken after considering the surge in the cases and future trends show that it might get worse. Many hospitals have already executed emergency procedures.
