Overcrowded hospital morgues, increased 911 waiting times, beds only open when patients die. Hospitals in California, where nearly all of the state’s 40 million residents live under domestic rule, see historical stress points.
The spate of new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations is pushing Los Angeles County hospitals to the “brink of catastrophe,” a top health official there said.
In just over a month, Los Angeles County doubled the number of infections, from about 400,000 cases on Nov. 30 to more than 800,000 cases on Jan. 2, health officials said Monday.
The Flood has translated into a spate of Covid-19 patients, overwhelming hospitals and a drop in the region’s intensive care unit capacity to zero. More than 7,600 people have now been hospitalized with Covid-19 in the county, 21% of whom are in ICU, officials said.
Because there were no hospital beds available, ambulance personnel in the province received guidance not to transport patients with a low survival rate. And the patients being transported often have to wait for hours before a bed is available.
“Hospitals declare internal disasters and must open gymnasiums to serve as hospital units,” said supervisor Hilda Solis, calling the situation a “human disaster.”
And someone dies from the virus every 15 minutes, said Barbara Ferrer, Los Angeles County’s director of health.
As hospital admissions increase, the Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services Agency (EMS) has mandated ambulance personnel not to transport patients with low survival rates to hospitals and to conserve the use of oxygen.
Before the pandemic, when health workers and resources were more readily available, patients who were unlikely to recover could be transported to hospital by ambulance for treatment.
But hospitals in Los Angeles are now full, and many medical facilities lack the space to accommodate patients who have no chance of survival, the agency said. Patients whose hearts have stopped despite resuscitation attempts, the county EMS said, should no longer be transported to hospitals.
“Immediately effective, due to the severe impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on EMS and 9-1-1 Receiving Hospitals, adult patients (18 years of age or older) with blunt traumatic and non-traumatic cardiac arrest out of hospital (OHCA) not transported [if]return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) is not achieved in the field, ” the agency said in a memo to ambulance workers last week.
If there are no signs of breathing or a pulse, EMS will continue to perform CPR for at least 20 minutes, the memo said. Once the patient has stabilized after the resuscitation period, he will be taken to a hospital. If the patient is pronounced dead on the spot or if no pulse can be recovered, paramedics will no longer transport the body to the hospital.
And even after arriving at hospitals, some EMTs have to wait outside for hours, as hospitals often do not have enough beds to receive patients.
“We wait at least two to four hours to a hospital and now we have to drive even further … and then wait another three hours,” EMT Jimmy Webb told CNN subsidiary KCAL.
Local officials have tried to encourage the public not to call 911 unless “it’s really necessary,” Dr. Marc Eckstein, the commander of the EMS Office of the Los Angeles Fire Department, to CNN subsidiary KABC.
“I think the next four to six weeks will be critical as our system is under load,” added Eckstein.