'Patients are dying like flies': Tearful California ICU nurse begs people to stop being careless because 'we have no ventilators, we are full and help's not coming'
A California ICU nurse is begging people to 'stop being careless' as hospitals around the country are overwhelmed with a record number of coronavirus patients.
Gayana Chuklansev, a surgical intensive care nurse in the Los Angeles area, issued her tearful plea in a TikTok video that has racked up more than 1.3 million views in the week since she first posted it during a shift.
'I don't know how else to say this but I'm begging you guys to stop being careless,' a visibly shaken Chuklansev says.
She goes on to describe the harrowing challenges her hospital and its staff have faced on a daily basis amid an unrelenting influx of patients with severe cases of COVID-19.
'We have no ventilators for patients. We have no sedating medications. Patients are dying like flies,' she says with tears welling up in her eyes.
'We're full. We're at max capacity. We have no resources. We have no staff. Our doctors can't even intubate because they have like 40 patients each.'
Gayana Chuklansev, a surgical intensive care nurse in Los Angeles, issued a tearful plea for people to 'stop being careless' in a TikTok video that has racked up more than 1.3 million views
Chuklansev then compares the state of California's hospitals to 'a war zone', saying: 'We're asking for help and help's not coming.
'We didn't sign up to watch patients die because we physically cannot help them.
'So please stop being careless.'
She concludes the video - posted just days before Christmas - by urging people to heed experts' advice and avoid traveling over the holidays.
Chuklansev's heart-wrenching message struck a nerve with many viewers who echoed her sentiments in the comments.
'So heartbreaking,' one person wrote. 'Thank you for using your platform to share the reality of what is going on. Thank you for everything you do. Hang in there.'
'I'm so so sorry. My mom is also working Covid units and the stories she tells me daily are heartbreaking. My heart is with you,' another added.
A third person chimed in: 'My mom was a nurse. I live in LA. Nurses didn't sign up for THIS. They didn't sign up for the public not listening to them.'
Chuklansev compared the state of California's hospitals to 'a war zone', saying: 'We're asking for help and help's not coming'
Chuklansev concluded the video - posted just days before Christmas - by urging people to heed experts' advice and avoid traveling over the holidays
A clinician cares for a COVID-19 patient in the Intensive Care Unit at Providence St Mary Medical Center in Apple Valley, California, on December 23
More than 100,000 Americans have been hospitalized with COVID-19 every day for the past 27 days, with a record-breaking 121,235 inpatients reported on Monday.
California accounts for more than 20,600 of those hospitalizations.
The state has once again emerged as a top hotspot in the country and just last week the became the first in the US to surpass two million cases.
Governor Gavin Newsom is expected to extend strict stay-at-home orders in parts of the state where intensive care units are running out of beds - including Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley - on Tuesday after warning residents to brace for the effect of a 'surge upon surge upon surge' of cases caused by holiday travel.
California's regional stay-at-home orders were set to expire on Monday, but Newsom said it's 'self-evident' the restrictions must be extended.
He said 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.
The left graph show how California has 20,642 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 1,385 available
Governor Gavin Newsom is expected to extend strict stay-at-home orders in parts of the state where intensive care units are running out of beds - including Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley - on Tuesday after warning residents to brace for the effect of a 'surge upon surge upon surge' of cases caused by holiday travel
The latest stay-home order would be extended in places where hospital ICUs have less than 15 percent capacity.
'Things, unfortunately, will get worse before they get better,' the governor said at a news conference Monday.
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.