Already struggling to deal with a growing wave of COVID-19 patients, LA County hospitals are running very low on ICU beds.
The number continues to hover around 100 in a county with a population of more than 10 million.
"We are closely watching those ICU beds," says Dr. Christina Ghaly, the county's health services director. "What hospitals will do, in addition to doing everything they can do to bring on new staff whether it's through state resources, federal resources or otherwise, is they will increase their cancellations of procedures and services, surgeries - so they can transition more staff and beds to care for COVID patients. And then importantly, they will begin to break ratio or implement team-based nursing."
Ghaly says that's a last resort and can put staff and patients at risk.
The state reports ICU capacity for the entire Southern California region has dropped to 1.7%.