Capacity at Southern California ICUs falls to 0% amid COVID-19 surge

The availability of intensive care unit (ICU) beds has fallen to 0 per cent in Southern California amid a surge in Covid-19 cases.

California hospitals are required to report their bed availability in ICUs each day, and for the first time since the start of the pandemic that number dropped down to 0 per cent on Thursday in the 11-county southern region of the state.

This region includes Los Angeles County as well as Imperial, Inyo, Mono, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties.

ICU bed availability was at 0.5 per cent on Wednesday, according to the Wall Street Journal, before it plummeted to 0 per cent on Thursday.

One of the largest concerns among health professionals throughout the pandemic was how a surge in cases could lead to overwhelming hospital systems. This has encouraged officials to shut down businesses and gatherings in an effort to stop the spread of the novel virus.

But California’s current surge has proved to be more detrimental compared to the surge the state experienced in March and April.

California reported a record 53,711 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, according to Johns Hopkins University. This was the highest number of new cases in a single day for the state since the start of the pandemic.

With ICU beds filled in Southern California hospitals, this means some patients who typically would be placed in the unit would likely go elsewhere in the hospital to receive treatment, such as remaining in the ER for longer. It doesn’t necessarily mean these patients will receive diminished care from their hospital, as these hospitals will go into surge mode to accommodate up to 20 per cent over capacity.

Officials have trained healthcare professionals in their hospitals to be able to work in the ICUs or other units during surge mode in order to provide adequate care to all patients. Nurses from across the United States could also be called in to assist if available.

But the hospital system can only sustain this surge mode for a period of time before it could impact the care patients receive from medical professionals.

In Los Angeles County, more than 1,000 of its ICU beds are filled with Covid-19 patients, which was four times more than the number of patients on 1 November, according to The Los Angeles Times. 

“If the numbers continue to increase the way they have, I am afraid that we may run out of capacity within our hospitals,” Dr Denise Whitfield, associate medical director with the LA County emergency medical services agency and an emergency room physician at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, told the newspaper.

“And the level of care that every resident in Los Angeles County deserves may be threatened just by the fact that we are overwhelmed," she said

California has opened temporary field hospitals to accommodate non-ICU patients in places like Porterville, Sacramento, Imperial and Orange County. Other field hospitals in areas of the state are on standby in case they are needed for overflow.

Governor Gavin Newsom has also implemented new coronavirus precautions amid the current surge in an effort to decrease the number of cases, hospitalisations, and deaths, as well as assist the hospital systems.

These measures included closing down indoor and outdoor dining, personal care businesses like hair and nail salons, and playgrounds.