Saturated hospitals, airlifts as California border region virus cases surge

Reuters ^ | May 29, 2020 | by Laura Gottesdiener

[Oldeconomybuyer]

MEXICALI, Mexico/EL CENTRO, Calif., - Coronavirus cases are surging in a scorching hot desert region straddling south California and a city near Mexico’s Tijuana, leading to saturated hospitals, a cross-border overspill of patients and airlifts from rural U.S. clinics.

Mexicali, capital of the Mexican state of Baja California, has the third-highest number of confirmed COVID cases in Mexico, with its main hospitals at four-fifths capacity, state health department data shows.

Only a few miles beyond the border fence, Imperial County, California, is coping with the most COVID hospitalizations per capita in the state - well over twice the rate of the next highest county.

For the past two weeks, Imperial County’s largest hospital has used helicopters to fly some patients to other clinics, including those over 100 miles (160 km) away in San Diego and Palm Springs, because its intensive care unit is full.

“We continue to be in a surge with all our hospital beds being full,” Judy Cruz, emergency room director for El Centro Regional Medical Center, told Reuters on Friday.

Part of the wave of patients are U.S. citizens who live in Mexico and cross to seek care, Cruz said.

At least 57 patients have arrived in ambulances that picked them up at the Calexico port of entry in the last two weeks, some unconscious by the time they reached El Centro, she added.

Mexicali Fire Department Chief Ruben Osuna said his paramedics sometimes have to wait hours to deliver suspected COVID patients to hospitals because emergency rooms are saturated.

Some never make it, he added, saying three to four suspected COVID patients die in their homes in the city every day.

[Oldeconomybuyer]

[NativeSon]

Are we importing new virus patients because we don’t have enough here?

[MAGAthon]

notice Reuters emphasises cases, doesn’t give any figures for deaths, except for the Fire Chief saying three to four suspected COVID patients die in their homes in the city every day.

also note Reuters says:

406 cases per every 100,000 residents.

AP not much better, but they do put provide some less scary figures:

22 May: KPBS: Associated Press: California Rushes To Aid Virus-Stricken Imperial County
As many parts of the state eased restrictions, Newsom said Imperial County, with a population of 175,000 people in the state’s southeastern corner, “continues to be of concern.”...
It is unclear what caused the surge in coronavirus patients. But Adolphe Edward, chief executive officer of El Centro Regional Medical Center, is among those who believe that U.S. citizens who live in Mexicali, Mexico, play a major part...

Hospitalizations from COVID-19 had dropped to 60 on Friday from 74 on Tuesday, according to the Imperial County Health Department website. But patients have been to other hospitals in Southern California. The region’s two hospitals sent 16 patients outside the region on Monday and Tuesday alone.

El Centro Regional Medical Center, the largest in the Imperial Valley, had 52 coronavirus patients Friday, down from 65 earlier this week, said Edward, who declared himself “at ease” but expressed concern that socializing over Memorial Day weekend could produce more cases...

Angulo said U.S. citizens in Mexicali may be affecting the count but that it was difficult to quantify. The region has many dual citizens who live in Mexicali.
“We are a binational community,” she said. “There’s a lot of interaction both northbound and southbound every day in our regular lives.”
https://www.kpbs.org/news/2020/may/22/california-rushes-to-aid-virus-stricken-border/

[BobL]

““We are a binational community,” she said. “There’s a lot of interaction both northbound and southbound every day in our regular lives.””

It’s interesting there, Mexicali is a BIG city, Calexico, on the US side is far smaller, and is a major industrial center (whereas TJ is/was mostly for tourists). Most of the local border traffic there are (or at least were) actually wealthy Mexicans shopping in the US, and then going back home.

[Thommas]

Governor Newsom says, “Bring ‘em on in! We are a sanctuary State and welcome our brothers and sisters infected with Covid-19, Leprosy, HIV, Hepatitis, Cholera, Typhus, and any other communicable disease.”