MANAGEMENT PHOTO – A nurse evaluates a coronavirus patient COVID-19 in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at the Regional Medical Center on May 21, 2020 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)
GILROY, California. – There are no ICU beds available in a Gilroy hospital and are now relying on his training ability as Santa Clara County leaders spread disproportionate coronavirus among Latinx communities.
South officials on Monday made a plea to the public to practice holiday vigil before New Year’s Eve. It recorded the country’s most cases of coronavirus over the weekend since the start of the pandemic. A record 2,000 new infections were reported on Saturday, plus an additional 1,600 on Sunday.
As of Monday, there were 29 ICU beds available throughout the province and the capacity had decreased to nine percent. At the Saint Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy, not a single ICU bed is available and they are now filling cot beds.
“If we go beyond the boom, everyone will be affected,” hospital manager Gloria de la Merced told a news conference on Monday. “More people in our community will know someone who died or who was seriously ill.”
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Due to an excessive increase in cases among Latinx communities, the virus response update was presented bilingually, with speakers varying between Spanish and English, a slight change in their overall format. Across the province, 52 percent of COVID cases come from the Latinx community, while they make up only 25 percent of the population.
“We know that COVID-19 has a much stronger impact on our Latinx and immigrant communities in cases and deaths,” said Morgan Hill councilor Yvonne Martínez Beltrán. “We are concerned and need to reduce our risk.”
Depending on someone’s job or livelihood, they may be more susceptible to the virus, Gilroy mayor Marie Blankley noted through a Spanish interpreter. It becomes increasingly dangerous as people ignore public health warnings and meet with friends and family and possibly spread the virus.
“Once contracted, let the rallies that people do, whether in your homes or with friends, as innocent as it seems, spread the virus quickly,” Blankley said, referring to residents in her city and county request to wear masks. and respect physical distance guidance.
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California hospitals have already begun postponing elective surgeries. Kaiser postponed them in Northern California until Jan. 4 and until Jan. 10 in Southern California, where new home orders are expected in response to maximum hospitals. For the Bay Area, where critical care units are more than 90 percent full, the state will only announce on January 8 whether the mandate has been lifted or not.
Health officials expect the number of new cases and hospitalizations to rise in the coming weeks after the two holidays, which will set Californians up for a sad January, as vaccines are not yet months away from reaching the general public.