As COVID-19 cases continue to rise, the lack of ICU beds is a pressing issue.
Now, officials are worried that the intensifying surge will not lessen anytime soon, leaving an uncertain future for hospitals. Dr. Ahmad Kamal, director of Health Preparedness for Santa Clara County, told a grim story recently of the virus spread looked at county hospitals.
"There were 68 patients in the emergency room waiting for a hospital bed, who did not have one," Kamal said. "This is where we are today."
The situation was not much better in Santa Cruz County, where typically if capacity ran low, patients were sent over the hill to Valley Medical or Stanford Medical Center.
"We are a relatively small county, and we are in proximity to some very large, very accomplished medical centers," said Santa Cruz County spokesperson Jason Hoppin. "Our hospitals can go up a little bit if they have the staffing and equipment to do that. With the nationwide spike in cases, nursing staff is in very short supply."
The Bay Area’s ICU availability hovered around 11% as of Sunday morning.
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