Can California address the shortage of life-saving oxygen at some hospitals overwhelmed by coronavirus cases?
The demand for oxygen has skyrocketed, as critically ill COVID-19 patients often need high rates of oxygen flowing into their lungs to keep them alive, helping them to overcome a perilous moment when their lungs are inflamed and their oxygen levels in the body become dangerously low.
Problems on Dec. 27 with hospital oxygen systems caused five hospitals in L.A. County to declare an “internal disaster,” which allows a facility to close its emergency room to all incoming ambulance traffic. That’s a rare situation; traditionally, when emergency rooms are full, only certain types of ambulance traffic are diverted elsewhere.
The demand for oxygen has skyrocketed, as critically ill COVID-19 patients often need high rates of oxygen flowing into their lungs to keep them alive, helping them to overcome a perilous moment when their lungs are inflamed and their oxygen levels in the body become dangerously low.
FAIRFIELD-SUISUN, CALIFORNIA
Juan Legaspi-Lozano, 90, is a patient inside the COVID-19 unit at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center on Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2020, in Mission Hills, California. (Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times/TNS)
Covid-19 leaves many California hospitals running low on oxygen
LOS ANGELES Can California address the shortage of life-saving oxygen at some hospitals overwhelmed by coronavirus cases?
The demand for oxygen has skyrocketed, as critically ill Covid-19 patients often need high rates of oxygen flowing into their lungs to keep them alive, helping them to overcome a perilous moment when their lungs are inflamed and their oxygen levels in the body become dangerously low.