California hospitals running out of ICU beds: health officials

Some California hospitals are running out of intensive care unit beds as the delta variant continues to spur COVID-19 cases in the state, The Associated Press reported.

Hospitals in the centrally located San Joaquin County have had less than 10 percent of staffed ICU beds for adult patients for three straight days, according to the AP. The county’s health officer said that the numbers of new virus cases and hospitalized patients have surpassed both respective peak numbers during last summer’s surge. 

A spokeswoman for San Joaquin County’s Office of Emergency Services told the AP that as of Friday the county has enough available hospital beds to avoid transferring patients to other counties. If ICU capacity in the county falls to zero at some point, hospitals across the state will be required to accept transfer patients, the AP notes.

Fresno County is facing a similarly dire situation, with the area’s hospitals treating more than double the confirmed coronavirus patients that they were treating four weeks ago, the Fresno Bee reported. 

“We’re very worried whenever a holiday weekend triggers the kind of gatherings and celebrations that can lead to more transmissions,” interim Fresno County health officer Rais Vohra told the Bee ahead of Labor Day weekend.

New coronavirus cases have fallen statewide in California, but hospitalizations have not followed the same trend. As of Thursday, 8,630 people were hospitalized with the virus across the state, more than five times the number hospitalized on July 1, according to the AP. 

California issued vaccine mandates last month for teachers and school staff and health care workers to combat the latest surge.