SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California health officials are urging the state’s residents to stay home as much as possible because of a coronavirus surge taxing the state’s hospitals.
But the most recent stay-at-home order allows Californians to do many more activities than the March shutdown that made the state a model on how to respond to the virus. People have been buying Christmas trees, shopping for groceries and hitting the gym since the orders took effect Monday in Southern California and much of the Bay Area and Central Valley. Los Angeles County Health Director Barbara Ferrer is warning of catastrophic consequences if more people don't heed orders to stay home and within their own household members.
To help with the onslaught of incoming patients during the latest surge, a health official in California’s third-largest county is urging hospitals to cancel elective surgeries and implement plans for an onslaught of COVID-19 patients, as intensive care units fill up statewide amid spiking virus cases.
Dr. Carl Schultz says ambulances have been waiting for hours to unload patients because Orange County emergency rooms are so backed up. He urged hospitals to begin expanding capacity immediately.
California’s hospitalizations already are at record levels, leaving less than 1,500 of the 7,800 total ICU beds available. A hospital in Imperial County has put beds under a tent in a parking lot for non-COVID patients.
As of Dec. 11, each region's ICU capacity sits at:
- Northern California ICU availability: 26.6% (down from 30.3% yesterday)
- Bay Area ICU availability: 16.7% (down from 17.8% yesterday)
- Greater Sacramento ICU availability: 14.8% (up from 13.3% yesterday)
- Southern California ICU availability 6.2% (down from 7.7% yesterday)
- San Joaquin Valley ICU availability: 4.5% (up from 1.9% yesterday)
CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES:
- How California's COVID-19 exposure alert app works
- Coronavirus Cases: Latest coronavirus numbers for the Sacramento region
- Coronavirus recovery rates: How many people are surviving in the Sacramento region
- Maps: Coronavirus cases across the Sacramento region
- Here are the 6 steps for coronavirus vaccine distribution in California
- Regional stay-at-home guidelines
- COVID-19 vaccine questions answered
- San Joaquin County Help: A Resource Guide for Struggling Families and Individuals
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