California reported on Sunday that 45,352 people recently tested positive for Covid-19, continuing an increase that pushed hospitals and their exhausted staff to the limit.
In the United States, hospitals are rushing to keep up with outbreaks of patients with Covid-19 in numbers they have not seen at any other time in the pandemic.
Overall, at least 125,000 people across the country were in hospital with coronavirus on Sunday, marking more than a month that the number of hospitalizations exceeded 100,000, according to the Covid tracking project.
Emergency department officials in California said hospitals are treating an unprecedented number of coronavirus patients, including some health professionals.
At Kaiser Permanente San Jose Medical Center, 44 emergency department workers tested positive for the virus between December 27 and January 1, according to Irene Chavez, senior vice president and area manager.
Chavez said in a separate statement that the medical center is investigating whether an air-powered inflatable suit may have influenced the spread.
“A staff member appeared briefly in the emergency department on December 25 wearing an air-powered costume,” said Chávez. “Any exposure, if it had occurred, would have been completely innocent and quite accidental, since the individual had no Covid symptoms and just sought to lift the spirits of those around him during a very stressful period.”
Chavez said in the statement that air-powered fantasies will no longer be allowed on the premises.
Military support: In Southern California, experts in the design and construction of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers were sent to the Los Angeles area to “evaluate and, when necessary, update oxygen delivery systems” in about half a dozen hospitals.
A hospital in the area converted administrative offices and rest rooms into treatment areas for its coronavirus patients, said Col. Julie Balten, Los Angeles District commander for the Corps of Engineers.