Orange County hospitals are in seriously dangerous shape due to hospitalizations from COVID-19. As of late Wednesday night, the county Health Care Agency is urging hospitals to activate plans to halt non-essential surgeries.
“The health care system in Orange County is now in crisis resulting from an overwhelming increase in the number of COVID infected patients,” says Dr. Carl Schultz, the Emergency Medical Services medical director.
Schultz adds that hospitals could ease stress by cancelling all elective surgeries.
OC is breaking records with nearly 1,000 hospitalized, including 239 in intensive care units, and county Health Care Agency reported 2,613 new cases on Wednesday
County health officials are warning that if steps aren’t taken soon, OC’s medical services could to "collapse."
“At the current rate of deterioration, the EMS system may collapse unless emergency directives are implemented now,” Schultz wrote, referring to the services system that includes hospitals and ambulances.
“Ambulance EMTs are waiting hours just to transfer patients from their vehicles to emergency departments. This results in dangerous delays in initial patient assessments to ensure they don’t have an emergency medical condition,’ the directive states. “This results in dangerous delays in initial patient assessments to ensure they don’t have an emergency medical condition.”