MARYSVILLE, Calif — The only hospital serving Yuba and Sutter counties, Adventist Health and Rideout in Marysville, only has seven ICU beds available due to an onslaught of coronavirus cases.
Hospital officials tell ABC10 they are seeing six times the number of coronavirus cases they were seeing a week ago.
With Sutter County's case rate among the highest in California right now and Yuba County not far behind, hospital officials are rightfully worried.
"This is not a tradeoff between our economy and our health. Our health and our economy are interrelated,” Adventist Health and Rideout President Rick Rawson said.
In a video Tuesday, Rawson said staff went from treating three coronavirus patients to 20 within the past week. The most recent state data from Monday shows three of those patients are in ICU, and that the ICU has only seven beds available.
Rawson is urging community members to help slow the spread of the virus by supporting public health restrictions.
“The concern we have, we want to share with you because there's 20 people right now, a few blocks away from where I'm standing, fighting for their lives,” Rawson said.
But messaging from elected officials has not been clear and unified. In a Facebook post Monday, Republican Assemblymember James Gallagher of Yuba City encouraged people to ignore the state's color-coded restrictions, in part saying, "You are all responsible adults and you can decide what risks are acceptable for you and your family. Be considerate."
Earlier this year, the two counties were the first to defy the state's restrictions and enact its own re-opening safety measures.
Public Health officials say, the state addressed the counties' concerns by enacting a balanced, color-coded tiered system statewide.
“Even so, we saw our communities did not heed that balanced approach. Our businesses and schools can only continue opening up, and staying open, if we all do our parts at home and in public to break the chain of transmission,” said Rachel Rosenbaum, public information officer for Yuba County.
Local health officials say people need to practice personal responsibility, writing in an email to ABC10:
“Personal responsibility means doing your part to slow the spread, knowing what we know about how people become infected. This is all based on a sliding scale of risk: the safest behavior would be to stay at home and not interact with anyone outside of your household. We understand that some may find that unrealistic. So, we encourage safer behaviors: wearing that facial covering; social distancing of 6 feet or more from people you don’t live with; avoiding social gatherings; practicing good hand hygiene; and staying home when sick with any symptoms concerning for COVID-19.”
“If you choose to attend a gathering of any kind, we ask that people do so safely by wearing a facial covering, social distancing, and limiting the number of households you interact with,” Rosenbaum said.
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