Wednesday, Dec. 16. Here’s what’s happening with the coronavirus in California and beyond.
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We’ve been feeling a little brighter now that the first batch of authorized COVID-19 vaccines is being deployed in California. But that shouldn’t obscure the extraordinarily bleak situation we’re facing in the pandemic or the overwhelming burden that it’s putting on doctors and nurses statewide.
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The Orange County Health Care Agency has issued an order that forbids hospital emergency rooms from redirecting ambulances to other medical facilities.
The order the first of its kind in the region went into effect at 7 p.m. Tuesday after 20 of the county’s 25 emergency medical centers became so overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients that they began diverting ambulances to other facilities in Orange County. As a result, ambulances were having difficulty finding a hospital that would take patients.
“This is not sustainable,” Carl Schultz, emergency medical services director for the Orange County Health Agency, said in a written statement.
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With the number of local COVID-19 patients soaring to record levels, Orange County officials announced Tuesday they will deploy mobile field hospitals to relieve some of the stress on the region’s healthcare system.
Three hospitals Fountain Valley Regional, St. Jude Medical Center and UC Irvine have already requested the mobile units, which will add between 25 and 50 beds to their existing capacities, officials said.
The rollout comes as Orange County, like much of the state and nation, has been besieged by record numbers of COVID-19 infections that, in turn, have flooded its hospitals with unprecedented numbers of coronavirus-positive patients.