LOS ANGELES (AP) – California health officials on Saturday reported a record one-day total of 695 coronavirus deaths, as many hospitals are experiencing unprecedented consequences.
The death toll in California since the start of the pandemic has risen to 29,233, according to the state Department of Public Health website.
Meanwhile, hospitalizations are close to 22,000, and according to state models, that could be 30,000 by February 1st.
A resurgence in cases after Halloween and Thanksgiving has yielded record hospitals in California, and now the most seriously ill of the patients are dying in unprecedented numbers.
Many hospitals in Los Angeles and other hard-hit areas are already struggling to keep up and have warned that it should be possible to care for rations as intensive care beds fall.
Every intensive care unit bed at St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard is full and emergencies are across Ventura County, about 97 miles northwest of Los Angeles, the Ventura County Star reports..
When a code sounds blue in the hospital indicating a cardiac arrest, Nurse Yesenia Avila prays.
The codes occur frequently. On one particular shift, she said three COVID-19 patients died within an hour.
“We’ve never seen so many dead,” Avila told the newspaper. ‘I’m in health care for 22 years and have never been scared. At the moment I am … I fear for my children. ‘
The biggest fear is that hospitals will be transferred to rationing in a few weeks when people who have removed the rules of social distance to get together with friends and family members for Christmas and New Year’s Eve turn up for medical care.
The Christmas boom worsened in Los Angeles County, where figures released Thursday and Friday showed a new daily conclusion of nearly 20,000, well above the average of about 14,000 new cases per day over the past week. A total of 100.00 new cases were recorded this week.
With new figures released on Saturday, the province has surpassed 12,000 deaths caused by COVID-19 – 1,000 of which have occurred in the past four days.
“The speed with which we are reaching serious milestones of COVID-19 deaths and cases is a devastating reflection of the tremendous spread that is occurring across the country,” said Barbara Ferrer, director of public health in Los Angeles County. “And this accelerated spread reflects the many unsafe actions that individuals have taken during the holidays.”
Dr. Paul Simon, chief scientific officer of the Department of Public Health, told the Los Angeles Times he expects the number of hospitalizations and deaths to remain high during January due to what occurred during the holidays.
“We will see high levels of hospitalization and unfortunate deaths for at least the next two to four weeks.”
Los Angeles County has a fourth of the state’s population, but it is responsible for about 40% of COVID-19 deaths.