Santa Clara County expects to exceed hospital capacity in 3 weeks

Health officials predict Santa Clara County will exceed its hospital capacity in three weeks based on current indicators. 

The county has seen an alarming rise in COVID-19 cases in hospitalizations. The county's seven-day average of new cases is the highest it's been since the beginning of the pandemic and is still going up. 

According to the county health department, the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients increased by 50 percent in one week, from 110 on Nov. 12 to 166 on Nov .19.

Santa Clara County moved into the purple tier of the state's reopening system on Nov. 16 and is among the counties under a mandatory curfew that goes into effect on Saturday.