Coronavirus

California Health Officials Warn Of Post-Holiday COVID Surge

Less than 2 percent of ICU beds, fewer than 1,400, are open in California because of coronavirus pressure.

California Health Officials Warn Of Post-Holiday COVID Surge
Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP
SMS

In California, the governor says hospitalizations have increased more than sevenfold since November. Things are so bad in L.A. County ambulance crews were told not to bring patients who have no chance of surviving.

That's according to the L.A. Times.

Statewide, fewer than 1,400 ICU beds are open. That's less than 2 percent. L.A. County, the state's largest county has just 326 beds available – that's out of more than 21,000. County health officials are really worried for the incoming holiday surge.

Barbara Ferrer, Director of Los Angeles County Public Health said, "We're likely to experience the worst conditions in January that we've faced the entire pandemic, and that's hard to imagine. In slightly more than one month we doubled the number of people who tested positive for COVID-19, going from 400,000 cases on November 30th to 800,000 cases on January 2nd."

The new coronavirus variant has not been detected in L.A. County, but health officials believe it is there.