Santa Clara Co. hospital concerns rise amid 'most worrisome' COVID-19 spike
FILE - A nurse places a blanket over a patient that had just been admitted to the emergency room at Regional Medical Center on May 21, 2020 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Santa Clara County’s healthcare system capacity continues to be a concern as health officials analyze the sharpest spike in hospitalizations since the coronavirus pandemic began ten months ago.
Top health officer Dr. Sara Cody presented the Board of Supervisors with a virus report on Tuesday. And as record daily cases and new hospitalizations continue, she stressed the current surge is dangerously significant compared to the previous two spikes.
“It is the most worrisome that we have had since the beginning of the pandemic and it requires us to continually adapt our operations and reprioritize our work,” she said.
Coverage: Coronavirus in the Bay Area
Multiple factors are contributing to the heightened worry, including that the rate of growth is still rising. The county, one of five to preemptively initiate the state’s stay-at-home order early, has yet to see a slowing or leveling of case counts since the latest wave arrived this fall.
Additionally, while recent numbers likely reflect some of the anticipated rise in cases from Thanksgiving, the latest numbers do not reflect its main contributions. Cody said cell phone tracking shows that county residents traveled to Southern California, where the virus rate is much higher compared to the Bay Area, at significant rates over the holiday. There’s also the pandemic fatigue aspect, and a desire to restore normalcy in our lives, Cody noted.
“But this virus does not care and this virus will win, so we must stay alert and we must continue to fight,” she said, adding that tracking also showed shopping malls were among the top six places where residents went the day after the holiday.
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On Sunday, the county notched a record 1,450 new virus cases and 62 hospitalizations. Health officials estimate seven percent of daily cases will need to be hospitalized. A total of 368 patients were hospitalized with the virus as of Tuesday, following an increase of 11 from the day before, according to the state’s dashboard. Three ICU beds also freed up, so now the county has 53 total available.
At a press conference Monday, health officer Martin Fenstersheib said they expect to receive 17,500 doses of the Pfizer vaccine from the state on Dec. 15. The first round will be prioritized for healthcare and frontline workers.
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