LOS ANGELES (AP) – California health officials reported on Thursday a two-day record total of 1,042 coronavirus deaths, as many hospitals have suffered tensions in unprecedented cases
The state Department of Public Health website listed 583 new deaths, the day after 459 deaths. The previous two-day record total was 1,013 deaths in late December.
The death toll in California since the pandemic began rose to 28,045.
State hospitals are trying to prepare for the possibility of rationing care due to a lack of staff and beds – and hoping they won’t have to make that choice.
California has prevented the increase in cases for months, but now the virus is out of control there and across the country, after Thanksgiving holiday meetings that officials say spread infections. Only Arizona surpasses California in cases per resident.
A travel statement issued on Wednesday “strongly discouraged” people outside the state from entering California. He also said that Californians should avoid traveling more than 120 miles from home, except for essential purposes.
The previous state warning, issued in November, encouraged people to stay at home or in their region, without providing a specific mileage range. He described the quarantine guidelines for out-of-state travelers, but did not explicitly discourage travel.
California this week ordered hospitals in the most affected areas to delay many elective surgeries to free up space.
In Los Angeles County, Southern California Methodist Hospital has assembled an in-house screening team that does daily assessments “on the severity of critically ill patients, allowing us to distribute resources to those who need it most,” said the director of strategy Cliff Daniels.
The hospital is not rationing care “and we hope we don’t get there,” said Daniels.
However, guidelines published on the hospital’s website warn: “If a patient becomes extremely sick and very unlikely to survive the disease (even with life-saving treatment), then certain resources … can be allocated to another patient most likely to survive. “
Los Angeles County, the most populous in the country with 10 million residents, is one of nearly two dozen Southern California and the Central Agricultural Valley that have essentially run out of intensive care unit beds for patients with COVID-19.
Health officials warned on Wednesday that hospitalizations will continue for at least three weeks, as people who have ignored the social distance rules to meet for Christmas and New Year will fall ill.
Hospitals across the state with rooms have been instructed to accept patients from others who have exhausted their ICU beds, but in fact most of the state is reporting difficulties in providing ICU beds, with non-COVID-19 patients spreading through corridors, tents and cafeterias.
To the north, Santa Clara County officials, with about 2 million residents, say that 100 infected people a day are ending up in hospitals.
“And as terrible as it is, it can get worse,” said Dr. Ahmad Kamal, county health system preparation director. “We didn’t have a situation where two people were out of breath and one was given a respirator. We can get there. “
More than a quarter of a million new cases a week presaged a continuous and overwhelming crush.
Vaccines being administered at a pace that Governor Gavin Newsom said was too slow will take weeks or months to slow the spread.
About 12% of people who test positive for COVID-19 are likely to need hospital care, authorities estimate.
“The numbers are extraordinary,” said Carmela Coyle, president and CEO of the California Hospital Association. “We are not going to dodge that math. We need state help. “
State officials must also overturn the decisions of many county health officials who prevent patients in recovery from coronavirus from being released to qualified wards, despite fears that they may spread the virus, said Coyle.
“Focus on nothing but saving lives in the coming weeks,” said Coyle.
LA County, which records more than 200 deaths per day, recorded a rate of new cases of COVID-19 almost double that of December, health officials said.
More than 8,000 people are hospitalized with COVID-19 – with a fifth of them in intensive care – and more than a third of adult hospital beds are occupied by patients with viruses, said Barbara Ferrer, county director of public health.
“This is a health crisis of epic proportions,” said Ferrer.
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Thompson reported from Sacramento. Associated Press reporters Bob Jablon in Los Angeles, Elliot Spagat in San Diego and Olga Rodriguez in San Francisco contributed.