ARCHIVE PHOTO – A nurse assesses a patient with COVID-19 coronavirus in the intensive care unit (ICU) of the Regional Medical Center on May 21, 2020 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)
GILROY, California. – A hospital in Gilroy has no ICU beds available and is now building on its capacity to increase as Santa Clara County leaders highlight the disproportionate spread of the coronavirus among Latinx communities.
Southern county officials called on Monday for the public to practice surveillance on holidays before New Year’s Eve. After the weekend, the county recorded the majority of coronavirus cases since the pandemic began. A record 2,000 new infections were reported on Saturday, as well as 1,600 on Sunday.
As of Monday, 29 ICU beds were available across the county and capacity had decreased to 9%. At the Saint Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy, there is no ICU bed available and they are now filling emergency beds.
“If we go beyond the capacity to increase, everyone will be affected,” said the hospital’s executive, Gloria de la Merced, at a news conference on Monday. “More people in our community will know someone who died or was seriously ill.”
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Due to a disproportionate increase in cases among the Latinx communities, the update to the virus response was presented in two languages, with speakers alternating between Spanish and English, a small change in their common format. Across the county, 52% of COVID cases are from the Latinx community, while they represent only 25% of the population.
“We know that COVID-19 is affecting our Latinx and immigrant communities at a much higher rate of cases and deaths,” said Morgan Hill counselor Yvonne Martínez Beltrán. “We are concerned and we must reduce our risk.”
Depending on someone’s job or livelihood, they may be more susceptible to the virus, noted Gilroy’s mayor, Marie Blankley, through a Spanish interpreter. This becomes more and more dangerous when people ignore public health warnings and get together with friends and family, possibly spreading the virus.
“Once hired, the meetings people have, whether at home or with friends, as innocent as they may seem, cause the virus to spread quickly,” said Blankley, pleading with residents of his city and county that use masks and respect the physical distance orientation.
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California hospitals have already started postponing elective surgery. Kaiser postponed them in northern California until January 4 and January 10 in southern California, where new requests for home stay are expected in response to crowded hospitals. For the bay area, where intensive care units are over 90% full, the state will not announce whether or not the order will be suspended until January 8.
Health officials anticipate that the number of new cases and hospitalizations will increase in the coming weeks after the two holidays, preparing Californians for a bleak January, as vaccines are still months away from reaching the general public.