- Some Los Angeles hospitals are struggling with oxygen deficiency to treat COVID-19 patients, reports the Los Angeles Times.
- COVID patients typically require ten times as much oxygen as non-COVID patients, and demand has strained the pipes of older hospitals.
- Los Angeles saw a sharp increase in COVID-19 cases during the holidays, and public health officials are concerned about the city’s ability to handle further increases.
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At least five Los Angeles County hospitals have declared themselves internal disasters and were forced to divert ambulances to other facilities over concerns about oxygen supply, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The Times reports that several hospitals are short of oxygen containers and that pipes in hospitals were breaking down due to the large amount of oxygen sent through the system.
Non-COVID patients need about six gallons of oxygen per minute, according to the Times, but COVID-19 patients need 60 to 80 gallons per minute.
Los Angeles saw a surge in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths after the holidays. In one hospital, the gift shop and the chapel were converted into treatment areas.
According to Monday, Los Angeles has averaged more than 14,000 daily new businesses over the past week, according to data compiled by The New York Times.
The LA Times added that the positivity rate of COVID-19 tests is now at 17% in LA County, which was more than four times the positivity rate the province had on November 1st.
As for oxygen, the demand in some hospitals is so high that the system cannot maintain the necessary pressure. In other cases, the high oxygen flow caused the pipes to freeze.
Public health officials and health workers said they would not reach the boom any time soon, and they were concerned that health care systems did not have the capacity to treat everyone properly if the cases continued to climb.
“All indicators tell us that our situation could only get worse if we start in 2021. The rate of community transmission remains extremely high … As business remains at these alarmingly high levels, hundreds of people are likely to die,” said Barbara Ferrer, The director of public health in LA County told Times.
Dr. Tamara Chambers, an ICU doctor at Los Angeles County + USC Medical Center, told Business Insider that the problem is not only limited beds for patients, but that he also has enough qualified health workers to treat all the incoming patients.
According to Chambers, health workers in her institution have themselves become ill with COVID-19, which means there are fewer staff to care for patients.
“I think we are referred to as the front line, but in fact we are the last line. We rely on public health and safety measures. We rely on people to stay at home. We try to be the last line and the last level of care and support, but we can do just as much, “Chambers said. “The hospital is just as big, just so many workers.”
Chambers urged Americans to take precautions to avoid hospitals together.
“It is extremely important that everyone stays at home at a social distance and follows all social measures,” she said.