Mobile Field Hospitals Come To OC For Surge Of COVID-19 Patients –

SANTA ANA (CBSLA) – Orange County deployed its mobile field hospitals on Tuesday as the region continues to set new records for coronavirus diagnoses and hospitalizations.

Blue tents have been set up outside the University of Irvine Medical Center in California to manage patient overflow. 16. December 2020. (CBSLA)

From the National Guard, the federal government, visiting nurses – that’s where we get help and where we can respond to needs, said Dr. James Keany, an emergency doctor at Mission Viejo Hospital.

2,173 new cases of COPID-19 contamination were reported in the province, bringing the total number of cases to 107,937.

Hospitalization rose from 1,287 on Monday to 1,371 on Tuesday, including 296 intensive care patients, compared to 288 the day before. Both are new records: a daily event from last week.

To meet these needs, mobile field hospitals are installed in large trailers with hard floor tents and temperature-controlled units with running water, toilets, showers and generators, and air purifiers.

The Fountain Valley Regional Hospital gets 50 extra beds, St. Michael’s Hospital gets 50 extra beds. Jude the Fullerton 25 beds and the University of California, Irvine, 50 beds. The mobile units are equipped with running water, lighting and air purifiers.

In terms of space and everything else we are good here, we can really expand, says Dr. James Keeney, an emergency doctor at Mission Viejo Hospital. On paper, it may look like we’ve used every bed in the ICU, but we can create new things and new spaces. What we can’t make is new nurses for the ICU.

Government. Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday that the state has just recruited 500 new health workers to help resolve the crisis, including 300 private nurses, 49 members of the National Guard and 21 retired doctors and nurses.

Most of the fatalities reported since Friday fall in the age group of 75 years, but at least one of them is between 25 and 34 years old.

All provincial indicators are now classified in the most restrictive purple level of the state’s four-level coronavirus surveillance system.

Availability of beds in the ICU increased from 9.3% on Monday to 10.4% on Tuesday in the non-adjusted category and from zero to 1.4% in the adjusted category, which was created to reflect the difference between beds available for IDVOC-19 and non-coronavirus patients.

In the 11-country area of Southern California, the percentage of beds available for intensive care is 1.7%.

As they have been doing for months, on Tuesday dozens of residents appealed to the Supervisory Board to ignore the state’s order to stay inside.

Orange County Councillor Leon Page explained that Newsom’s decree is the final decision to stay home, and there is nothing the county can do to change it.

Dr. Clayton Chow, director of the County Health Department, made an emotional appeal to residents to adhere to the principle of physical distance and facial protection to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

All we know is that people have to stay at home when they are sick, don’t mix households, wear a mask and follow all cleaning procedures, such as washing hands, Chow said. It’s the only thing that works.

Orange County is awaiting the first shipment of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine, which is expected to arrive Wednesday. About 25,000 cans are expected, said Orange County General Manager Frank Kim.