One L.A. County hospital ICU is operating at triple its capacity amid COVID-19 surge
LA TimesThe 172-bed Memorial Hospital of Gardena has been in various levels of internal disaster status since March. The 172-bed medical center has been in various levels of “internal disaster status” since March, and the latest coronavirus surge is manifesting in alarming but increasingly familiar ways — including shortages of home oxygen supplies that are delaying the discharge of many COVID-19 patients and keeping beds occupied. L.A. County hospitals have reported an average of 750 to 800 new COVID-19 hospitalizations a day — an astonishing number that has largely remained steady since Christmas Eve. “This high plateau does not leave enough open beds to care for patients.” That’s especially the case, Ghaly said, because the county has yet to determine the full ramifications of potential post-holiday exposures. “If our case numbers continue to be this high, and even go up some, that bodes very poorly for the hospitals,” said Barbara Ferrer, L.A. County’s public health director.