It s just utter chaos : California becomes third state to surpass 25,000 COVID-19 deaths
California on Thursday became the third state to surpass 25,000 COVID deaths, following New York and Texas. In Los Angeles County, many funeral homes are filled to capacity, and health care professionals feel as if they re under siege.
Hospitals in Southern California are at the breaking point with 1 in 5 COVID-19 tests coming back positive. It s just utter chaos, said nurse Tavonia Ekwegh, who runs the ER at Anaheim Global Medical Center. Tents outside the medical center are filling up. It is a war zone, we have ambulance run after ambulance run, Ekwegh said.
Nurses Protest Working Conditions at Orange County Hospitals Amid Pandemic
Registered nurses from four different Orange County, California, hospitals protested Dec. 23 against declining hospital safety conditions resulting from an increase of COVID-19-infected patients.
Dozens of nurses attended the scheduled protests, which started at 6 a.m. and lasted approximately two and a half hours. They were held simultaneously in front of the Chapman Global Medical Center in the City of Orange, the South Coast Global Medical Center in Santa Ana, and the Anaheim Global and West Anaheim medical centers in Anaheim.
Nurses say they have been working double shifts with few breaks, are under-equipped with personal protective equipment (PPE), and are enduring extremely high patient-to-nurse ratios because staffing waivers have been granted to acute care hospitals.
‘This Is A National Disaster’: OC Nurses Staging Wednesday Walkout Over New State Staffing Mandates Syndicated Local – CBS Los Angeles
COSTA MESA (CBSLA) With local hospitals overwhelmed by the latest COVID-19 surge, nurses are reaching their breaking point.
“This is a national disaster,” one nurse said. “Once the healthcare falls, wiped out, there’s no coming back.”
The veteran Orange County emergency room nurse did not want his name to be shared, but he wanted to let people know what it has been like in area hospitals.
“I grew up in a war-torn place, and this is the most scared [I’ve been] in my life and in my career,” he said.