Los Angeles County hospitals are so overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients that EMS workers were instructed on Monday to ration oxygen, according to reports.
The LA County Emergency Medical Services Agency issued a directive on Monday detailing the decision.
“Given the acute need to conserve oxygen, with immediate effect, the EMS should only administer supplemental oxygen to patients with oxygen saturation below 90%,” said the directive, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The guideline was issued on the same day that the county said 7,697 patients were hospitalized with the virus. Of these, at least 21% are in intensive care units. When the recent surge began in early November, there were about 791 people hospitalized with COVID-19.
MAN FROM CALIFORNIA LOADED WITH KILLING PRAYER ROOM IN THE COVID-19 ROOM OF THE HOSPITAL
A doctor sees a COVID-19 patient at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in the Mission Hills section of Los Angeles on December 22, 2020. (AP Photo / Jae C. Hong, Archives)
California officials recently said they were having trouble getting the required amount of oxygen for critically ill coronavirus patients, with supply problems causing at least five Los Angeles County hospitals to declare an “internal disaster”, which means that they could refuse ambulances.
Coronavirus patients generally need 60 to 80 liters of oxygen per minute, while other patients can receive six liters per minute. Dr. Jeffrey Gunzenhauser, medical director for LA County, said officials are exploring “all possible ways to reduce the burden on hospitals”.
“Many actions have been taken to improve coordination in identifying patients who really need hospitalization and connect them to an available bed, rather than stacking ambulances outside an emergency department,” he told the LA Times.
In addition to oxygen rationing, the agency issued memos last week telling the ambulance staff not to transfer patients to the hospital that they have virtually no chance of survival.
LA SHERIFF REPORTS 235 ATTACHING COVID-19 RESTRICTIONS
In a matter of weeks, COVID-19 cases in the county almost doubled – from 400,000 on November 30 to more than 800,000 on January 2, according to the Los Angeles Department of Public Health.
Authorities fear the county is likely to see an increase in cases associated with winter holidays.
To help with the situation, California created a state oxygen team, and US Army Corps of Engineers recently arrived to update their oxygen delivery systems.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPLICATION
“The state of California is continuously working to support our hospitals and protect the lives of Californians affected by COVID-19. By working to update challenging oxygen delivery systems in these older hospitals, we can improve the ability to provide supportive medical care. to life for those in need, “said Mark Ghilarducci, Director of the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.