Some large California hospital systems have postponed elective procedures as the influx of patients with COVID-19 has stressed resources and heightened fears that a further increase could come after the holidays.
Hospitals were transferring patients to use all of the available space, while California’s count increased to 19,237 infected patients on Saturday, another record and an increase of almost 300 from the previous day. Coronavirus hospitalizations in the Bay Area increased by 39 to 1,869, another record, challenging – at least for a day – the vain hopes of a regional plateau.
Intensive care unit availability remained at an average of zero percent across the state on Sunday, reflecting how deeply the Southern California and San Joaquin Valley areas had to dive into “outbreak” facilities to care for patients that were crowded. Bay Area ICU availability was at 11.1% on Sunday – just a small mark down from 11.3% on Saturday.
In light of the increased patient load, Kaiser Permanente said it has postponed “elective and non-urgent” surgeries and procedures at its Northern California facility until January 4, although the delay does not apply to “cases of cancer or other surgeries and urgent / emerging procedures. ”The health care system operates 39 hospitals across the state, 21 of which are in Northern California.
Kaiser hospitals in Southern California postponed non-urgent elective surgery until January 10 – also with exceptions for cancer – and also “are not scheduling any new elective surgery until the end of January,” according to the health system.
Sutter Health, with 24 hospitals in northern California, is also postponing some elective surgeries, the Associated Press reported. A Sutter spokesman declined to provide details on Sunday, but said the system has “a coordinated response across the network to prepare and respond to patient spikes”, which may include postponing some procedures.
Good Samaritan Hospital and the Regional Medical Center in San Jose are also canceling non-urgent elective surgeries, said a spokeswoman on Sunday, “so that we can focus on all urgent cases, both COVID and non-COVID, and keep all safe patients at the same time. “
The space is so tight at the Regional Medical Center that some non-COVID-19 patients have had to wait in “safe areas” of the hospital while rooms are being folded or new rooms prepared, spokeswoman Sarah Sherwood said. COVID-19 patients are “immediately screened,” she said.
Kaiser officials said their medical centers are still open and asked patients to contact their doctors about “ongoing care needs”. Kaiser said he would reschedule elective procedures “as soon as possible, ensuring the safety of all of our patients and staff”.
The most affected regions of the state – southern California and the large area of the San Joaquin Valley – still had zero percent availability of ICUs on Sunday, and hospitals reported hosting patients in environments outside the ICUs. Requests to stay in the state’s home for these two regions could, in theory, expire on Monday, but they are almost certain to be extended due to the dire situation.
The Greater Sacramento region had 17.8% of the ICU’s capacity on Sunday, rising again above the 15% limit, but not long enough to be free of the regional order of stay at home. The Northern California region – the northernmost counties of California and the only region that is not under a mandate to stay at home – had 28.3% availability.
“We cannot stress enough the urgent need for all Californians to stay home as long as possible,” the California Department of Public Health said in a statement on Sunday. “Doctors, nurses and healthcare teams are doing everything possible to treat all patients who come through their doors, whether they are with COVID-19 or other serious medical conditions. We know how difficult this is for each of us – but we must do our part by staying at home, as this is really the only way to help save lives. “
Kaiser officials said they are “eyeing” the availability of beds for intensive care units. They activated the outbreak capability so that hospitals can accommodate more patients than normal.
“Our command centers continue to monitor the situation carefully,” said Kaiser officials.
Lauren Hernández, editor of the San Francisco Chronicle, contributed to this report.
Tatiana Sanchez is a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @tatianaysanchez