In Los Angeles and Beyond, Oxygen Is the Latest Covid Bottleneck medscape.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from medscape.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
By Bill Galluccio
Jan 7, 2021
As the number of people hospitalized for COVID-19 continues to reach record highs, hospitals are struggling to deal with the influx of patients. One essential item that many hospitals, especially those in rural areas, are running short on is oxygen.
While there is not a shortage in the overall oxygen supply, suppliers are having a difficult time keeping hospitals stocked as the supply chain has become stressed. In addition to having problems getting gas to the hospitals, supplies of the tubing used to deliver the oxygen are running low.
Hospitals are also having a hard time getting portable cylinders to hold oxygen and concentrators that can pull oxygen from the air. In some cases, they are using older equipment that can break down, which could be deadly for patients who are on ventilators.