As COVID-19 cases continue to increase across the bay area, some of the biggest peaks occur in southern Santa Clara County.
Gilroy’s only hospital is struggling to meet demand, and on Monday, community leaders raised the alarm and tried to explain the increase – while pleading with people to redouble efforts to prevent the spread.
At the Saint Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy, the ICU was full and, on average, they had to transfer one to two patients a day to other hospitals.
“We started to cancel elective surgeries so that nurses in our surgery department are now sent to help in the ICU, the emergency department and the surgeon,” said Gloria dela Merced.
But it is not enough, with the ICU full, transfers to other hospitals become a daily event – sometimes even requiring the move to another municipality. While some subacute patients are being transferred here to De Paul Health Center in Morgan Hill.
“It’s really helping to unload patients who are stable enough to be discharged, but are not going home,” said Merced.
Gilroy and Morgan Hill have more cases than almost anywhere else in the county, which is why beds are filling up quickly. But why?
“We know that several factors are influencing the high number of cases, one is the density of the number of people in the population living together in a small space and the other is theirs and the percentage of the population that is doing essential work,” said Maribel Martinez, Santa Clara County Public Information Officer.
And while only a quarter of the country’s entire population is Latino, they account for almost 52% of all covetous cases in the county.
That’s why on Monday, community health leaders sounded the alarm in Spanish and English, asking people in the region to stay home on New Year’s Eve and wear masks.