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A group of approximately 75 Department of Defense medical personnel have deployed to a handful of California hospitals in two of the state’s regions hardest hit by the pandemic.
Roughly 65 U.S. Air Force doctors, nurses and other medical staff from the 60th Medical Group at Travis Air Force Base and around 10 U.S. Army nurses from a Fort Carson, Colorado-based military medical unit, have arrived and begun onboarding at four hospitals: Adventist Health Lodi Memorial in Lodi, Dameron Hospital in Stockton, Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno and Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton.
The deployment comes as California and the entire country is experiencing a devastating surge in COVID-19 cases. The hospitals selected are located in the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California, two regions of the state with 0% ICU bed capacity and currently under mandatory stay-at-home orders. On Tuesday, those orders were extended.
For weeks public health and state officials have warned that Central and Southern California hospitals are quickly running out of intensive care unit beds for coronavirus patients ahead of a presumed post-holiday surge. But what exactly does it mean to be at 0% ICU capacity?
San Joaquin County’
For weeks public health and state officials have warned that Central and Southern California hospitals are quickly running out of intensive care unit beds for coronavirus patients ahead of a presumed post-holiday surge. But what exactly does it mean to be at 0% ICU capacity?
San Joaquin County s seven hospitals have 99 licensed ICU beds, according to the county s Emergency Medical Services Agency. On Tuesday, the county was at 155% capacity of those beds, with hospitals having to add an additional 54 to accommodate the surge in ICU patients. That number dropped to 53 overflow beds by Wednesday afternoon, EMS reported.
While the county is technically over its ICU capacity, EMS spokeswoman Marissa Matta said that doesn t mean hospitals will run out of beds. But she also said that current capacity levels are still a reason for serious concern.
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