LOS ANGELES (AP) – California health authorities reported a record 695 deaths from coronavirus in a single day on Saturday, and many hospitals are already struggling to treat an unprecedented number of infected.
The death toll in California since the start of the pandemic rose to 29,233, according to the website of the Department of Public Health.
For its part, hospitalizations were around 22,000 and according to projections they could reach 30,000 on February 1.
An increase in infections after Halloween and Thanksgiving led to record hospitalizations in California and now the sickest patients are dying in unprecedented numbers.
Already, many hospitals in Los Angeles and other high-contagion areas are having trouble keeping up with medical care and have warned they may have to ration care as available intensive care beds decrease.
All intensive care unit beds at St. John Regional Medical Center in Oxnard are full, and emergency rooms are overcrowded throughout Ventura County, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) northwest of Los Angeles, the report said. Ventura County Star newspaper.
Every time the blue code rings in the hospital indicating cardiac arrest, nurse Yesenia Avila says a little prayer.
The codes have been ringing frequently. On a particular shift, three COVID-19 patients have died within an hour, the nurse said.
“We have never seen so much death before,” Avila told the newspaper. “I have worked in healthcare for 22 years, and I have never been scared. Right now … I fear for my children.
The biggest fear is that hospitals will have to ration care in a few weeks when people who ignored social distancing rules to meet friends and relatives for Christmas and New Year’s Eve begin to come forward seeking medical assistance.
The post-Christmas increase is worse in Los Angeles County, where Thursday and Friday numbers rose to nearly 20,000 cases a day, well above the average of about 14,000 a day last week. In total, 100,000 new cases were registered this week.
With the new numbers released Saturday, the county surpassed 12,000 COVID-19 deaths, 1,000 of which occurred in the past four days.
“The speed with which unprecedented COVID-19 deaths and cases are being reached is a devastating reflection of the immense spread that is happening in the country,” said Barbara Ferrer, Los Angeles County director of public health. “And this accelerated spread reflects much of the unsafe behavior of individuals at the end of the year.”
Dr. Paul Simon, director of science for the county’s Department of Public Health, told the Los Angeles Times that he expects the number of hospitalizations and deaths to remain high in January due to the year-end holidays.
“We are going to see high levels of hospitalizations and sadly deaths for at least the next two to four weeks.”
Los Angeles County concentrates a quarter of the state’s population but accounts for about 40% of deaths from COVID-19.
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