Jan 10, 2021
FILE â In this April 18, 2020 file photo partitions are installed between beds as work is performed to turn Sleep Train Arena into a 400-bed emergency field hospital to help deal with the coronavirus, in Sacramento, Calif. The state has reopened the arena and other facilities to help handle a new surge of coronavirus patients, but is using little more than a handful of volunteers from Gov. Gavin Newsom s California Health Corps who originally helped staff the facility. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) California desperately needs more medical workers at facilities swamped by coronavirus patients, but almost no help is coming from a volunteer program that Gov. Gavin Newsom created at the start of the pandemic. An army of 95,000 initially raised their hands, and just 14 are now working in the field.
California desperately needs more medical workers at facilities swamped by coronavirus patients, but almost no help is coming from a volunteer program that Gov. Gavin Newsom created at the start of the pandemic.
Don Thompson, The Associated Press
California desperately needs more medical workers at facilities swamped by coronavirus patients, but almost no help is coming from a volunteer program that Gov. Gavin Newsom created at the start of the pandemic. An army of 95,000 initially raised their hands, and just 14 are now working in the field.
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Medical workers are stretched thin, and it’s starting to affect patient care. In Long Beach, at least two area hospitals recently took the grim step of convening teams of medical professionals who would decide which patients are given potentially lifesaving care and which are denied it if the current wave of COVID-19 cases pushes local health care providers to that point.
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The U.S. this week reported more deaths from COVID-19 than it has in any other week during the pandemic
It hit a new record of 21,752 as fatalities increased in every region of the country
It was the first time weekly deaths had climbed over 20,000
There were 3,500 deaths reported Saturday bringing the death toll to 372,428
Of Saturday s fatalities, 695 were reported in California
Los Angeles County is the worst hit with 40% of the deaths despite having only 25% of the state s population
The county reported 1,000 deaths in the last four days
Refrigerated trucks are now stationed around California hospitals to store bodies as morgues are overwhelmed