Hospitals in L.A. County Are Out Of Available Beds for Covid-19 Patients

Feb, 2021 - By WMR

COVID-19 cases are rising at such as rapid rate in Los Angeles County, that the hospitals are facing major challenges in incorporating patients daily.

In October 2020, almost 150 patients were admitted to hospitals daily. By November 2020 these numbers went up to 300 patients a day, which has been the highest during pandemic. Recently, the numbers have doubled to 700 patients daily and this is the major point of concern for Los Angeles County.

According to the Department of Health Services, if the transmission rate of the disease does not change then the number of cases in L.A. County can increase to 1400 daily hospitalizations by the end of the year.

According to Dr. Toger Lewis, a professor of emergency medicine at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in West Carson, in the future there can be 10 times more admissions if the spread of the virus is not restricted right now. On 20th December 2020, the number of COVID-19 patients in L.A. County's hospital was approximately 5900, double than what it was in the initial months of the second wave. This indicates that by the end of 2020, there will be around 9000 COVID-19 patients occupying hospital beds in L.A. County.

Last week for the first time during the pandemic, the hospitals in L.A. County ran out of ICU beds for COVID-19 patients. Lewis stated that at this moment there are no vacant beds and hospitals cannot incorporate more infected patients. Barbara Ferrer, Public Health Director, said on 21st December 2020, that the county is right now averaging 84 deaths per day. Dr. Robert Kim Farley, an infectious disease expert and epidemiologist at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health stated that the available medical staff may not be able to handle so many patients at once, which will result in low-quality monitoring.