COVID19 Surge May Cause No Room For Emergency Patients (neighborhood, living)

[Chava61]

It sounds like the stay at home order will be extended as another surge is expected after the holiday period is over.

[CA4Now]

At Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, the breaking point came Sunday night.

There was not one available bed for at least 30 patients who needed intensive or intermediate levels of care, and the hospital had to shut its doors to all ambulance traffic for 12 hours. Some patients, including the very sick who required intensive oxygen, experienced wait times as long as 18 hours to get into the intensive care unit.

L.A. County hospitals turn away ambulances, put patients in gift shop: ‘I’ve never seen anything like this’:
https://www.latimes.com/california/s...way-ambulances

[N610DL]

Originally Posted by Chava61

https://ktla.com/news/were-getting-c...d-doctor-says/

How worried is the average person in L.A. about this?

Not much. I flew back to the NYC-Area to visit family for Christmas and flew on a 767 for 5+ hours and got tested today (negative) after even going out during the lock down in L.A. to a local watering hole which was indoors. I'm convinced it's based on age, genes, blood type, etc. on how you contract this thing. I'm also anal about how much I wash my hands (always have been throughout life) - not that it makes a ton of difference at this point though.

[goodheathen]

Originally Posted by N610DL

Not much. I flew back to the NYC-Area to visit family for Christmas and flew on a 767 for 5+ hours and got tested today (negative) after even going out during the lock down in L.A. to a local watering hole which was indoors. I'm convinced it's based on age, genes, blood type, etc. on how you contract this thing. I'm also anal about how much I wash my hands (always have been throughout life) - not that it makes a ton of difference at this point though.

It's not, re contracting it. Humans don't have special abilities to not get highly transmissible infections. However, some of those factors might prevent serious cases, while not preventing transmission from lucky people to higher-risk folks.

[ocoilslick]

Originally Posted by saibot

Well, this is the problem, isn't it? When people take the actual numbers and "tweak" them to suit their own ends, we end up not being able to believe anything anyone says. The person in the interview you quote seems to be saying there are literally no ICU beds open.

But this is from the article I linked above:



Clearly, in some cases, 0% doesn't mean 0%.

ICU bed capacity in California (and probably the entire country) is not what it appears. There is what is called a "staffed" ICU bed and then there is total number of available ICU beds. Total number would be physically how many beds in a hospital have been allotted to the ICU. The number of ICU beds being counted that are 85% full are staffed beds. ICU beds are typically "85% capacity" day in and day out, 365 days a year, year after year after year. Most hospitals that means 1 or 2 beds are staffed that are not yet being used. In reserve, and ready for an emergency. Why staff bed$ that are not being u$ed???

What you need to look at is the "surge tents" most all hospitals put them up in beginning of Covid. None of them have been used yet, with the possible exception of NYC. When the surge tents start getting filled up, then you should worry. I doubt that will happen, even in LA. ER and ICU are separate units.

[goodheathen]

It's about to get worse. The new British version is here (or in a nearby county).
https://www.yahoo.com/news/californi...123723609.html

[CA4Now]

Deaths keep coming at one L.A. hospital as workers weep:
https://www.latimes.com/california/s...s-workers-weep

[CA4Now]

With 700 nurses from primary care clinics diverted to hospitals and other critical needs, county officials have been forced to temporarily shut five public primary care clinics across the county and reduce hours at most of the others, which provide children with immunizations and where people with chronic diseases have their medications managed.

“We have kept a skeleton crew to continue to work in our outpatient clinics,” said Dr. Christina Ghaly, the L.A. County director of health services.

https://www.latimes.com/california/s...covid-19-wards

[CA4Now]

The situation in Los Angeles County hospitals is so critical that ambulance crews have been advised to cut back on their use of oxygen and to not bring to hospitals patients who have virtually no chance of survival. Officials say they need to focus on patients with a greater chance of surviving.

Emergency rooms are so slammed that some patients are having to wait inside ambulances for as long as eight hours before a bed becomes available. That backlog ties up ambulances and keeps them from being able to respond to other emergency calls.

https://www.latimes.com/california/s...-surge-illness

[Exitus Acta Probat]

Originally Posted by CA4Now

The situation in Los Angeles County hospitals is so critical that ambulance crews have been advised to cut back on their use of oxygen and to not bring to hospitals patients who have virtually no chance of survival. Officials say they need to focus on patients with a greater chance of surviving.

Emergency rooms are so slammed that some patients are having to wait inside ambulances for as long as eight hours before a bed becomes available. That backlog ties up ambulances and keeps them from being able to respond to other emergency calls.

https://www.latimes.com/california/s...-surge-illness

When I heard this story on the radio this morning, I was genuinely shocked. And consummately disgusted. I would not shed one tear if bands of vigilantes started forcing people into mask and social distance compliance. Even to this day, every time there's a thread about maskless joggers on Nextdoor, I'm shocked at how many inconsiderate jerks we still have running around this city.