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California hospitals contemplate rationing care as they get more overwhelmed
foxnews ^ | 12/19/2020

Posted on 12/20/2020 7:21:38 AM PST by BenLurkin

It’s a scene playing out across California. According to state data Friday, all of Southern California and the 12-county San Joaquin Valley to the north had exhausted their regular intensive care unit capacity and some hospitals have begun using "surge" space.

In hard-hit Fresno County in central California, a new 50-bed alternate care site opened Friday near the community Regional Medical Center. The beds for COVID-19-negative patients will free up space in area hospitals, where just 13 of some 150 ICU beds were available Friday, said Dan Lynch, the county’s emergency medical services director.

Lynch said he expects they will have to use the Fresno Convention Center, which can accommodate up to 250 patients, given current demand.

Fresno and three neighboring counties also have taken the unprecedented step of sending paramedics on emergency calls to evaluate people. They won’t be taken to the emergency room if they could go to an urgent care facility or wait a few days to talk to their doctors, Lynch said.

Some hospitals have canceled non-essential elective surgeries, such as hip replacements, that might require beds which may soon be needed for COVID-19 patients. Others are increasing staff hours or moving patients to free up space

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: california; coronavirus; covid19; flubras; flubros; justacold; justtheflu; socialism
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To: DugwayDuke
Nothing like fear mongering to spread the narrative of the imperative of CV mitigation protocols.

Have you noticed that not one city or state have asked Trump for military support.

Last time he sent two navy hospital ships and set up numerous field hospitals in a matter of weeks. They went unused because they never needed them.

Tells you all you need to know.

21 posted on 12/20/2020 8:44:53 AM PST by usurper ( version )
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To: DugwayDuke
Nothing like fear mongering to spread the narrative of the imperative of CV mitigation protocols.

Have you noticed that not one city or state have asked Trump for military support.

Last time he sent two navy hospital ships and set up numerous field hospitals in a matter of weeks. They went unused because they never needed them.

Tells you all you need to know.

22 posted on 12/20/2020 8:44:53 AM PST by usurper ( version )
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To: usurper

How the heck did I do that.


23 posted on 12/20/2020 8:47:33 AM PST by usurper ( version )
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To: usurper

Right now they’re just seeing a surge in California, as it is the pattern in other places, it will take 3 months to get through the surge before it goes down.


24 posted on 12/20/2020 8:47:49 AM PST by MinorityRepublican
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To: BenLurkin

But ask nurses who work in local hospitals and they will tell you they are not overwhelmed with virus patients. This is very faked news.


25 posted on 12/20/2020 8:55:52 AM PST by WLusvardi (Drudge Fudges)
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To: RummyChick

I read a considerable amount of that thread. Plenty of anecdotal hearsay on both sides.


26 posted on 12/20/2020 9:10:47 AM PST by ecomcon
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To: ecomcon

the red crosses are verified Drs...


27 posted on 12/20/2020 9:13:15 AM PST by RummyChick (I BLAME KUSHNER)
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To: BenLurkin

Is “more overwhelmed” like being “more dead”?


28 posted on 12/20/2020 9:18:05 AM PST by MeganC (There is nothing feminine about feminism. )
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To: All

Here it comes folks. It will be you that receives sub standard care and not the elites. They’ll spend every penny on them.


29 posted on 12/20/2020 9:24:51 AM PST by ssfromla
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To: DugwayDuke

“They admit that all of the 800 beds can be converted to ICU beds.”

Is the need for ICU beds for covid patients primarily because they all need Intensive Care or it is the hospital’s way of isolating covid patients from the other patients?


30 posted on 12/20/2020 9:34:31 AM PST by cymbeline
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To: DugwayDuke

“Evidently managing bed space a day in advance is beyond their ability.”

Or they’re trying to maximize covid money from the government.


31 posted on 12/20/2020 9:36:15 AM PST by cymbeline
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To: BenLurkin

Where is the Mercy boat that docked in NYC earlier this year? Where?! Why isn’t it here? All the politicians were predicting a surge and had months to increase hospitalization facilities and did not.


32 posted on 12/20/2020 9:49:44 AM PST by Lizavetta
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To: butlerweave

Running out of ICU beds is another misleading statistic. California ranks 3rd to last in the # of hospital beds per/1,000 population (Utah: 1.8, New Mexico: 1.8, California: 1.8, Washington: 1.7, Oregon: 1.6)

Three of the leftiest states in the country are in the bottom three says something doesn’t it?
#1 South Dakota: 4.8/1000

https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/rankings-and-ratings/states-ranked-by-hospital-beds-per-1-000-population.html

Of course, like housing, electricity, water and everything else in California, one reason hospitals are expensive to build is due to unending regulations in the spirit “Good intentions” one of the biggest issues is because of seismic (earthquake-related) regulations and stringent “Green” standards. Are hospitals normally built not earthquake-proof? Of course not but the state can and does always default to more, more, more strangling regulations.
Another reason for fewer beds is that inpatient hospital stays have been greatly reduced in favor out-patient and at home treatment.

I’m not a Covid denier, my 73 yr old (very high risk) cousin in currently in the ICU in Reno on a ventilator and has been there for 6 days. My sister who’s a PA in Anchorage tested positive with no symptons. My point is the pandemic porn statistics are very mis-leading and thus they are essentially meaningless.


33 posted on 12/20/2020 10:29:04 AM PST by TMD (Behind Enemy Lines (SF bay area)....)
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To: RummyChick

RummyChick wrote: “I suspect you arent really interested in the real mechanics of people on the ground dealing with this”

If I wasn’t really interested, why did I go to the trouble of finding and reading the official status report (published daily) for my local hospital. Which BTW, had no mention of staffing issues.

We went through this drill last spring. Oh, my, we’re almost out of ventilators (didn’t come close). Oh, my, we need more beds. (Bed were provided (see hospital ships) (NG built mobile hospitals and none were used))

I suspected these narratives are just another way to push the mitigation protocols that have proven unjustified and ineffective.


34 posted on 12/20/2020 10:33:30 AM PST by DugwayDuke (Biden - Not My President!)
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To: cymbeline

cymbeline wrote: “Or they’re trying to maximize covid money from the government.”

Empty beds provide no revenue. Many stories last summer about how closing the hospitals to all but CV patients almost bankrupted several hospital. They had no elective patients and to few CV patients. Do you realize they were actually laying off nurses for lack of patients?


35 posted on 12/20/2020 10:35:48 AM PST by DugwayDuke (Biden - Not My President!)
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To: cymbeline

cymbeline wrote: “Is the need for ICU beds for covid patients primarily because they all need Intensive Care or it is the hospital’s way of isolating covid patients from the other patients?”

About half the ICU beds were occupied by non-CV patients.


36 posted on 12/20/2020 10:37:20 AM PST by DugwayDuke (Biden - Not My President!)
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To: DugwayDuke

Those people are verified doctors dealing with this..not some people who look it up on the net.


37 posted on 12/20/2020 10:55:26 AM PST by RummyChick (I BLAME KUSHNER)
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To: DugwayDuke

Those people are verified doctors dealing with this..not some people who look it up on the net.


38 posted on 12/20/2020 10:55:27 AM PST by RummyChick (I BLAME KUSHNER)
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To: BenLurkin

I am of the opinion that rapid deployment of a few, previously disparaged drugs would tend to alleviate this crisis.


39 posted on 12/20/2020 11:59:07 AM PST by taxcontrol (Stupid should hurt - Dad's wisdom)
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To: RummyChick

RummyChick wrote: “Those people are verified doctors dealing with this..not some people who look it up on the net.”

One does not have to be a ‘verified’ doctor to point out the discrepancies.


40 posted on 12/20/2020 12:04:26 PM PST by DugwayDuke (Biden - Not My President!)
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