Nearly every hospital in Los Angeles County had to divert ambulance traffic away over the weekend because of overcrowded emergency rooms and a lack of therapeutic oxygen, KCAL CBS-2 News reports.
California Governor Gavin Newsom assembled a support team to assist the region, which has experienced a sharp rise in coronavirus cases in the last month. Currently, about two-thirds of intensive care beds in LA County hold coronavirus patients.
"As cases continue to remain at the alarmingly high levels, hundreds more people are likely to die," said county health director Barbara Ferrer.
Five hospitals put themselves on "internal disaster" status Sunday when they had difficulty securing oxygen tanks to treat patients. In total, only 54 ICU beds were available in the county, with about half of those suitable only for pediatric patients. Just over 600 general care beds were available in a county of 10 million people.
"It's complete chaos," Tanya West, an ER nurse at a Covina hospital, told CBSLA by phone Monday. "Nurses running around, two patients in a room that's only built for one patient, without the proper safety equipment. Patients waiting in ambulances outside the hospital."