As the nation struggles with the latest wave of coronavirus cases, California is impacted by the deadly increase in COVID-19. On Monday, Governor Gavin Newsom acknowledged that the Golden State recorded an astonishing 525,000 cases of coronavirus in the previous two weeks, with daily increases of more than 40,000 cases suddenly becoming the new norm.
Los Angeles County, the largest in California, is seeing the most new cases. County health services director Dr. Christina Ghaly said at a news conference last week that 1 in 80 LA residents has been infected since the pandemic began.
“We are experiencing an explosive and very deadly outbreak,” said Los Angeles County health worker, Dr. Barbara Ferrer, adding that two people die of COVID-19 every hour in the county.
“More than 8,000 people, who were dear members of their families, are not coming back,” said Ferrer as he fought back tears. “And their deaths are an incalculable loss for their friends and their families, as well as for our community.”
But as bad as things have become in California, health officials are also warning that the worst is yet to come.
On Friday, hospitals reached a critical point that the state had worked to prevent with an order to stay at home earlier this month, with the ICU bed capacity dropping to zero percent in the southern region of 11 counties. This includes the counties of Los Angeles, San Bernardino, San Diego, Ventura, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Imperial, Inyo, Orange, Riverside and Mono.
Cassandra Craig, a nurse for 10 years who works in an intensive care unit in Southern California, explained the “sense of dread and disgrace” that each workday now brings.
“I know that I am about to do something that can be sad or scary, and I know that we are bursting into our hospital far above capacity, and we just have to deal with the scams and be flexible,” Craig told Yahoo News.
Overburdened healthcare systems across the state have struggled to meet the demands of increasing new cases, creating makeshift extra beds for patients with COVID-19 and buying real estate elsewhere in the hospital.
“We changed the rooms to accommodate positive COVID patients in the ICU. We are using space in units that are not usually used in ICUs. They are used for patients who are close to returning home, ”explained Craig. “When you are in a space that was not designed for patients in critical COVID condition, you are limited in space, limited in materials and limited in what you can and cannot do in that room.”
On Monday, Newsom, who was placed in a 10-day precautionary quarantine on Sunday after one of his staff tested positive, warned that hospital staff are extremely limited.
“We continue with record ICU capacity, hospitals that are getting crowded, an outbreak that we are experiencing, not unlike other parts of the country, but posing real challenges for our staff, here in the state,” said the governor. a press conference.
Craig said that nurses normally cannot have more than two patients because of a California mandate. But due to the personnel crisis, California’s medical systems had to change that regulation.
Craig, mother and wife, laments the pressure that the increase in cases has placed on the team. “We are working overtime. We are far from our families, ”she said. “People are coming extra. Some people are arriving on their days off. Some people are arriving for 16 hours. We’re stretched. “
To help ease some of the burden, Newsom announced on Monday that the state had deployed 607 state employees, including the California National Guard, health care teams, the California Health Corps, contract staff and others, at 75 facilities in 24 counties. The state has also opened alternative service locations.
According to an Associated Press report, places like Los Angeles County are also drawing up emergency plans in case they need to ration essential care. On December 15, Newsom ordered 5,000 body bags for southern California, in preparation for what many public health experts have predicted will be a sharp increase in COVID-19 deaths.
Mortality from illness caused by exposure to coronavirus can come quickly. Last week, Craig saw a patient in her 70s who, while not on a ventilator, was being treated with oxygen.
“By the end of my shift at 7:30 am that night, she was awake and talking. … Very sweet lady. She died a few hours later, “said Craig, adding:” My heart was broken because she passed away. We are sad. We’re tired.”
On Tuesday, nearly 18,000 patients in California were hospitalized for COVID-19, more than double the July peak of 7,170. The intensive care units are filled with 3,861 COVID-19 patients. Newsom acknowledged that a statewide projection model reveals that there may be almost 100,000 hospitalizations in the next month.
While health officials believe the rise in new infections can be traced back to October, Thanksgiving Day has proved to be a super-disseminating event.
Shoni Taylor, a clinical contact specialist at a Los Angeles hospital who supports the nursing staff at her medical center, managing COVID-19 positive psychiatric patients, voiced her complaint with Californians who left the pandemic and quarantine fatigue install themselves.
“It’s really frustrating when you work in the healthcare field and are on the front lines and see people still gathering, still having parties,” Taylor told Yahoo News, adding, “You feel a little frustrated because ‘I’m not doing anything. of this . I want to go on vacation! I want to get together with all my friends and family … but I’m trying to be responsible. ‘There is so much resistance, and the cases are still going up and up. “
The recklessness of large internal meetings is what helped to lead to the most recent home stay request in California, issued in early December, based on a region’s ICU capacity. If capacity drops below 15 percent in a designated region (Northern California, Greater Sacramento, Bay Area, San Joaquin Valley and Southern California), that area must comply with the request to stay at home. Californians must reduce unnecessary contact outside the home, unless they have to perform a necessary task, such as shopping, taking medication or exercising. Outdoor dining in restaurants – once seen as a silver lining for southern California, where temperatures are expected to reach 70 ° C at Christmas – have also been banned, and all non-essential travel is off limits.
“Our actions today can make a difference in what happens in the future,” warned California Secretary of Health and Human Services, Dr. Mark Ghaly, during Monday’s briefing. “All of our ability to not mix [and] keeping our face covered reduces the likelihood that we will transmit COVID or be infected by someone else who is transmitting it to us. This becomes a victory for the state. “
Craig agreed. “Do you really want it on your conscience if someone gets sick? Not worth it. It is not worth the pain and hurt you will experience. “
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