LA hospitals running out of oxygen as COVID-19 patients reach peak levels

Public health officials are worried about meeting the demand of patients infected with the virus

Jan 5, 2021

Several LA hospitals are reportedly overwhelmed as oxygen supplies run low amid the surge in COVID-19 cases.

Public health officials are worried about meeting the demand of COVID patients, who require ten times as much oxygen as patients not infected with the potentially deadly virus, the Los Angeles Times reports.

theGrio reported earlier, the Los Angeles Emergency Medical Services Agency has instructed first responders to cut back the use of oxygen and reserve it for those who have a better chance to live, per the Times. Patients whose hearts have stopped and cannot be resuscitated will be considered dead on the scene unless EMT’s are able to revive them. If not, they will not be admitted to the hospital.

Dr. Tamara Chambers, an ICU physician at Los Angeles County + USC Medical Center, noted that as qualified healthcare workers contract the coronavirus, there is less staff to care for patients.

“I think we’re being referred to as the frontline, but really we’re the last line. We rely on public health and safety measures. We rely on people to stay home. We are trying to be the last line and provide the last level of care and support but there’s only so much we can do,” Chambers told Business Insider. “The hospital is only so big, only has so many workers.”

As of Monday, 7,697 people were reportedly hospitalized with COVID-19 in Los Angeles County.

“All indicators tell us that our situation may only get worse as we begin 2021. The rate of community transmission remains extraordinarily high…. As cases continue to remain at these alarmingly high levels, hundreds more people are likely to die,” Barbara Ferrer, LA County’s public health director told the Times.

More than 131,000 covid patients are reportedly hospitalized nationwide, and many are largely in southern and West Coast states: Arizona, Nevada, Alabama, California, Georgia, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Texas and Delaware.

“We have so many crises happening simultaneously on multiple fronts,” said Saskia Popescu, an epidemiologist with George Mason University. “And all signs point to things getting a whole lot worse before they get better.”

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