California extends strict lockdown orders INDEFINITELY in areas running out of ICU beds after Gov. Newsom warned state to brace for 'surge upon surge upon surge' caused by holiday travel
California extended strict stay-at-home orders indefinitely in Southern California and San Joaquin Valley on Tuesday as the regions continue to reel from a surge in hospitalizations and zero intensive care unit capacity.
California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly announced the extended orders on Tuesday and said the lockdown will be lifted when the regions show 'ICU projections above or equal to 15 percent.'
The state’s stay-at-home orders in Southern California and San Joaquin Valley were supposed to be eligible to expire on Monday, but Gov. Gavin Newsom said it’s 'self-evident' the restrictions must be extended.
Ghaly said that four-week projections for both areas show capacity won’t improve and demand will continue to exceed available capacity.
Ghaly noted that many state hospitals are already being 'stretched to provide the kind of care we want' like a rubber band.
'You can certainly stretch rubber bands pretty far - as we are pushing our hospitals pretty far - but we know that the stretch has a limit before it breaks,' he said.
The move comes one day after Gov. Gavin Newsom warned residents to brace for the effect of a 'surge upon surge upon surge' of coronavirus cases caused by holiday travel.
California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly announced indefinitely extended stay-at-home orders in Southern California and San Joaquin Valley on Tuesday as the regions continue to reel from a surge in hospitalizations and zero intensive care unit capacity
The state’s stay-at-home orders in places like Southern California and San Joaquin Valley were supposed to be eligible to expire on Monday, but Newsom said it’s 'self-evident' the restrictions must be extended
The left graph show how California has 21,240 COVID-19 patients in hospitals and how the number has dramatically surged since November. The graph on the right shows how the number of ICU beds has plunged since October to just 1,428 available
In more positive news, the Greater Sacramento area and the Bay Area region are eligible to exit the lockdown order as soon as January 1 and January 8, respectively, if ICU capacity improves.
Northern California is currently only region in the state not under a stay-at-home order.
Ghaly said the average age of those admitted to hospitals with COVID has risen. He said it used to be below the age of 60 and now it's above the age of 60.
'Much of what we’re dealing with is avoidable. Much of what we’re seeing can be stopped if we collectively make dcisions to stop it and those deicionsa are to wear our masks, stay at home in this critical time, when we do go out make sure we remain socially distanced and don’t see anyone outside our households,' Ghaly said.
'As we go into the New Years weekend, do as much as you can. Decide to celebrate virtually. Make a decision to help yourself and help us stop this surge,' he said.
Newsom said Monday that even as hospital admissions start to plateau in some areas, the state needs to move into the 'new phase' because hospital beds are being set up in arenas, schools and tents, and the state is struggling to staff them.
'Things, unfortunately, will get worse before they get better,' he said in a news conference Monday.
A view of doctors caring for a COVID-19 patient inside the Sutter Roseville Medical Center ICU in Roseville, California on December 22
California has become the epicenter of the pandemic over the past few weeks with more than 24,500 virus-related deaths. On Monday 33,170 new COVID-19 infections were reported, bringing the total tally to 2.15million
The state has a 14-day average positivity rate of 12.6 percent
The current surge of cases is due in large part to Thanksgiving travel and celebrations despite warnings from public health officials not to gather as the state was already in the midst of an exponential growth in cases.
Travel over Christmas is anticipated to create another spike in cases that may not show up in the state's COVID-19 data for several weeks.
'As we move into this new phase, where we brace, where we prepare ourselves for what is inevitable now ... based on the travel we have just seen in the last week and the expectation of more of the same through the rest of the holiday season of a surge on top of a surge, arguably, on top of, again, another surge,' Newsom said Monday.
California has become the epicenter of the pandemic over the past few weeks with more than 24,000 virus-related deaths.
On Tuesday 31,245 new COVID-19 infections were reported, bringing the total tally to 2.18million.
The Golden State’s hospitals are inundated with patients and intensive care units in Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley have no capacity remaining, according to state figures.
As of Tuesday ICU capacity Bay Area 10.4 percent, Greater Sacramento 19.1 percent, Northern California 27.9 percent, San Joaquin Valley 0 percent, Southern California 0 percent.
The influx of patients is so overwhelming, hospitals have had to convert conference rooms and gift shops into patient care areas.
Some hospitals say the demand for oxygen for COVID-19 patients is so high they’re struggling to maintain air pressure in the pipes or are experiencing shortages in supply, as per the Los Angeles Times.
State officials also notified hospitals that the situation is now so dire that hospitals should prepare for the possibility that they will have to resort to 'crisis care' guidelines established earlier in the pandemic, which allow for rationing treatment.
That surge has created the greatest challenge for the state's health system since the pandemic began and has been regularly breaking records for case counts, hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19.
While daily coronavirus cases were down Monday from the seven-day average above 37,000, it was likely due to a lag in data from the weekend, Newsom said.
Models used for planning show hospitalizations more than doubling in the next month from about 20,000 to more than 50,000.
The state has set up several makeshift hospitals but needs more health care workers to staff them.
California has deployed more than 1,000 people to 116 hospitals and other facilities in the state through a volunteer corps or the National Guard.
Mercy Air flight paramedic Bob, left, and flight nurse Zach, right next stand next to a patient inside the ED at Providence St. Mary Medical Center in Apple Valley, California on December 22. The patient is COVID-19 positive and suffered a stroke and had to be flown from Providence St. Mary to another hospital
Surge tents for a 50-bed field hospital for COVID-19 patients are seen outside the University of California, Irvine Medical Center as the coronavirus disease outbreak continues in Orange, California, on Monday
Arrowhead Medical Center in Colton has been swamped with COVID-19 patients. In addition to a medical tent, the hospital is constructing trailers that will add 12 new isolation rooms for COVID-19 patients
A view of Arrowhead Medical Center's trailers under construction to help with the wave of COVID-19 patients in California
Dr. Bipinchandra Bhagat, MD checks on patients in the inside in Apple Valley, California on December 22
On the upside, Newsom said California finally expects to receive more of the traveling health care workers it had requested in anticipation of the shortage.
The Department of Public Health is sending an emergency medical team to Los Angeles to help better distribute patients among hospitals. Some hospitals are well above capacity and others are below capacity, Newsom said.
Over the weekend, most Los Angeles County hospitals reached a crisis point where they had to divert ambulances because they didn't have beds available.
'The sad reality is that all indicators tell us that our situation may only get worse as we begin 2021,' Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said.
Los Angeles County, which accounts for a quarter of the state's 10 million residents, has about 40% of the state's 24,000 deaths.
Anyone who traveled out of Los Angeles County is required to quarantine for 10 days upon return, the health department announced in a news release Monday.
Although there are indications more people are heeding stay-home orders that apply to all of the state but northernmost rural counties, there was a bump in air travel in Los Angeles similar to Thanksgiving.
The number of passengers flying out of Los Angeles International Airport was down about 70 percent from last year between Dec. 21-27, but reached a high of 43,000 on December 23, which was only 60 percent below last year's figures, spokesman Heath Montgomery said. That was about as busy as the airport has been since the pandemic began.
Ghaly urged people not to gather for New Year's celebrations, which would further compound problems in the month to come.
He said surveys about a month ago found only 30 percent of Californians were going to alter plans to gather or travel but more recent surveys show 50-60 percent changing their plans.
'Things that were, a month ago or two months ago, a low-risk activity today are really high risks because of the level of COVID that´s circulating in our communities,' he said.
Nationwide more than 19million cases of COVID-19 and more than 335,000 deaths have been reported since the start of the pandemic.