Over 3,600 confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients were in intensive care units.
An unidentified patient receives oxygen on a stretcher outside an Emergency entrance in Los Angeles on Friday. PIC/AFP
California hospitals are battling to find beds to house patients amid fears the explosion of coronavirus cases will exhaust staffing resources.
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As of Saturday, nearly 17,400 people were hospitalised with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 infections - more than double the previous peak reached in July - and a state model that uses current data to forecast future trends shows the number could reach 75,000 by mid-January.
Over 3,600 confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients were in intensive care units. All of Southern California and San Joaquin Valley to the north have exhausted their regular ICU capacity, and some hospitals have begun using "surge" space. Overall, the state's ICU capacity was just 2% on Saturday. Another 272 fatalities were reported on Saturday and in the last week nearly 1,600 people died.
In hard-hit Los Angeles many hospitals are preparing for the possibility of rationing care. A document circulated among doctors at the four hospitals run by Los Angeles County calls for them to shift strategy: Instead of trying everything to save a life, their goal during the crisis is to save as many patients as possible. That means those less likely to survive won't get the same kind of care offered in normal times.
Moderna readies to ship out doses in US
Workers on Sunday began packaging shipments of the second COVID-19 vaccine authorsed in the US, a desperately needed boost to efforts to bring the pandemic under control. Employees at a factory in the Memphis area were boxing up the vaccine developed by Moderna Inc. and the National Institutes of Health. The shots are expected to be given starting Monday.
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