Ambulance workers in Los Angeles County have been told not to transport patients with “little chance of survival” to local hospitals, as intensive care units are full of COVID patients.
The Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services Agency directive, obtained by CNN, also tells ambulance workers to “conserve oxygen use”.
In Los Angeles, many intensive care units are filled to capacity when a disastrous wave of the virus breaks out in southern California.
According to county data, more than 6,000 patients are currently being treated for coronavirus in Los Angeles. Hospital beds available in most ICUs were practically non-existent.
Because of these factors, EMS workers were instructed to “perform resuscitation for at least 20 minutes” if a patient’s heart stopped instead of taking him to the hospital.
In addition, California Governor Gavin Newsom formed a task force on Monday to “evaluate and update outdated oxygen delivery systems” at six hospitals in the Los Angeles area.