SANTA CLARA COUNTY, Calif. (KRON) – ICU bed capacities in Santa Clara County are now at critical levels.
On Monday, health leaders warned only 50 ICU beds remain in the entire county and that is for a population of more than two million people.
The news comes as the county set yet another single day record for in the number of COVID cases.
62-people were hospitalized for the virus.
Leaders say at this rate single-day hospitalizations will top triple digits but the county may not have enough beds to accommodate them all.
“We are very concerned about our healthcare system’s capacity,” Dr. Ahmad Kamal said.
Santa Clara County health leaders are sending out an SOS as COVID cases continue climb.
On Monday, the county set another single daily record with 1,450 new cases, that’s double from a week ago.
As COVID cases soar, hospital beds are quickly filling up. The county’s ICU bed availability is down to just 15-percent.
“As of today, we have 50 empty ICU beds for a county of more than 2 million people,” Dr. Ahmad Kamal said.
Dr. Ahmad Kamal says 62-people were hospitalized in the last 24-hours because of the virus.
He expects single day hospitalizations to top more than triple digits in the coming days.
“The county is looking at all options, including sites where people can get care looking with our regional county partners at looking at expansion for treatments,” Dr. Kamal said.
A silver lining could be on the way. The county said it will receive nearly 18,000 dozes of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine around this time next week.
Hospital workers will be receiving them first but the county says it will make sure nursing homes are also among the first to receive them.
“Those are very high-risk facilities. Just, for instance, they have about 5 percent of all of our covid cases, but represent about 45 percent of the deaths,” Dr. Marty Fenstersheib said.
According to county health leaders, right now hospitals have on average just 5 ICU beds left.
Those beds not only have to treat the most critically ill COVID patients, they also have to be available to treat people suffering from other illnesses.
In order to help with resources, a number of hospitals have started to cancel elective surgeries.