One of the main drivers of the COVID-19 pandemic is Intensive Care Unit (ICU) capacity as resources such as hospital staff and personal protective equipment (PPE) are continuously used up. Although disaster planning for such a contingency had already taken place (and indeed has been updated), the sheer scale of the impact first became apparent on the state level in late November 2020.
Not least amongst the concerns is the tremendous strain on staff and the inability to transfer patients to other hospitals which are likewise swamped, a particular problem in rural states which have commensurate health care infrastructure.
So serious is the issue that Governor Newsom of California issued a strict stay-at-home order to take effect 48 hours whenever any of that state's five regions -Northern California, San Francisco Bay Area, Southern California, Greater Sacramento, San Joaquin Valley, and Southern California reach 15% remaining capacity as projections were that hospitals shall be swamped by Christmas.
References
- McCarthy, Niall (2020-05-22). "States Compared [Infographic]". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
- Phelan, John (2020-11-20). "Minnesota's total ICU capacity has fallen by 229 beds – 10.6% – since early October". Center of the American Experiment. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
- "COVID-19 Data Dashboard – Patient Impact & Hospital Capacity". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. July 16, 2020.
- Soo, Kim (2020-10-20). "Utah Hospital's ICU at 104 Percent Capacity as State Sees Record COVID Hospitalizations". Newsweek.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|url=(help) - Simmons, Tommy (2020-12-01). "Some Treasure Valley hospitals faced decisions on ICU capacity Monday night as COVID-19 cases rise". Idaho Press.
- Moon, Sarah (2020-12-04). "Newsom issues regional stay-at-home order based on ICU capacity to battle record Covid surge in California". MSN News.
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