According to figures released by the state, available ICU capacity in the 11-county Southern California region has dropped to zero.
According to an exclusive interview with Carmela Coyle, president of the California Hospital Association, the state's figure, however, doesn't mean there are no ICU beds left, but the state is at about 90% of open ICU beds across the state.
The bigger issue, Coyle says is the shortage of critical care nurses. "We need ICU nurses who specialize in the care of COVID-19 patients."
So what does it mean if someone is injured in an accident or suffers from a heart attack? Coyle admits that emergency departments are going to be backed up and full. "We will be doing triage, so that patients will have the care that they need."
"This is something unlike we've ever seen before in our lifetimes," Coyle says.
The number of available ICU beds in LA County has been hovering around 100.
"You can see our current need for ICU beds is quickly approaching the number of available beds that hospitals report that they immediately have available for patients who require that level of care," Dr. Christina Ghaly, Los Angeles county's health services director says.
"The model predicts that the number of patients requiring ICU care in Los Angeles County within a month could easily exceed the total number of licensed adult, ICU beds. That's 2,500. And that could exceed that number by 1,000 or more," she adds.
The county and state continue to see record-breaking COVID-19 figures.
California's reporting more than 52,000 cases and close to 400 deaths -- a new high.
Cases, hospitalizations and deaths all set records Wednesday in LA County.
On average, two people an hour are now dying of COVID-19 in the state.