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Editor’s Note: Hospitals are being asked to stretch to provide patient care, in some cases, with lowered staff available from being ill with the repercussions from receiving the COVID-19 vaccine…a double-edged sword for health care these days.
Our job? Stay healthy with life as “clean” as you can make it in terms of dealing with processed food, water, clothing, and environment as best as possible. Living in the manner should acclererate your ability to stay healthy and BE in…
Quantum Joy!
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Vivian Solorio sits with her son Samuel Avila, who is almost 3 months, in the Emergency Department of Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital in South Los Angeles on Friday. The infant, who came in with a cough, was to be tested for flu, COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
The number of available Los Angeles County hospital beds has fallen to its lowest level of the pandemic, the result not only of the enduring threat of COVID-19 and the reemergence of flu and RSV, but also the needs of a populace that put off nonemergency care.
Based on data collected from 90 hospitals, there were 242 adult beds available countywide as of Monday, L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer told reporters Thursday. And, she added, “the average number of available beds so far in December is the lowest we have seen in the past four years.”
Comparing current conditions to the darkest days of the pandemic isn’t apples to apples, given that hospitals postponed many procedures and built up additional surge capacity during 2020 and into 2021. But with operations now more normalized, the situation illustrates the pressures exerted by the coronavirus and the wider respiratory virus season.
“It’s reasonable to speculate that part of the reason for the low number of available hospital beds is due to many patients seeking care that may have been delayed during earlier months of the pandemic and to the high circulating levels of respiratory viruses, resulting in a very high volume of patients,” she said.
Furthermore, healthcare workers aren’t immune to what’s happening in their communities — meaning widespread transmission of respiratory viruses may force sick calls and hurt staff availability.
“We’ve also heard anecdotally from some hospitals that they’re struggling to staff beds due to high retirement rates and nurses leaving full-time positions for different opportunities,” Ferrer said.
However, there are some preliminary signs — at least on the COVID-19 front — that metrics are improving.
On Thursday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said L.A. County hospitals were admitting 14.2 coronavirus-positive patients per week for every 100,000 residents, down 4% from the prior week. For the previous three weeks, L.A. County has seen week-over-week increases from 24% to 43%.
Reported coronavirus cases also are flattening. L.A. County recorded 2,991 new cases a day for the weekly period that ended Thursday, a 24% decrease from the seasonal peak, which occurred the first week of December. On a per capita basis, the latest rate is 207 cases a week for every 100,000 residents; a rate of 100 or more is considered high.
Rose Rambles... 