California reported Sunday that 45,352 people recently tested positive for Covid-19, a continuation of a wave that has pushed hospitals and their exhausted staff to the brink.
In the United States, hospitals are rushing to keep up with the peaks of Covid-19 patients with numbers they have not seen at any other time during the pandemic.
In total, there were at least 125,000 people nationwide hospitalized with coronavirus on Sunday, bringing the number of hospitalizations to more than 100,000 for more than a month, the Covid tracking project.
The California emergency department said hospitals are treating an unprecedented number of coronavirus patients, including some health workers.
At the Kaiser Permanente San Jose Medical Center, 44 employees in the emergency department tested positive for the virus between December 27 and January 1, according to senior vice president and regional manager Irene Chavez.
Chavez said in a separate statement that the medical center is investigating whether an inflatable, air-powered suit may have played a role in the spread.
“A staff member appeared briefly at the emergency department in an air-powered suit on December 25,” Chavez said. “Any exposure, if it had occurred, would have been completely harmless and quite accidental, as the individual had no Covid symptoms and was merely trying to cheer up the spirits of those around them during a very stressful time.”
Chavez said in the statement that air-powered suits are no longer allowed in the facility.
Military support: In Southern California, design and construction experts from the US Army Corps of Engineers have been deployed to the Los Angeles area to “evaluate and upgrade oxygen delivery systems as needed” at about half a dozen hospitals.
A hospital has converted administrative offices and break rooms into treatment rooms for their coronavirus patients, said Colonel Julie Balten, Los Angeles District commander for the Corps of Engineers.