SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KRON) – California overall has 2% of its ICU capacity left statewide.
For the third day in a row, Friday recorded more than 41,000 new COVID-19 cases and 300 deaths in a single day.
“We are battling through the peak of this third wave,” Governor Gavin Newsom said.
More than 98% of the state’s population is now under a stay at home order, intensive care unit capacities in two of California’s five regions have 0% of its space left.
“When you see zero percent, that doesn’t mean there’s no capacity, or you’re not allowed into an ICU, it means we’re in our surge phase,” Newsom said.
State emergency management as of Friday had five surge facilities propped up across the state in Los Angeles, Sacramento, Porterville, Imperial and Fairview.
State data showed 93 patients total across California are being cared for in surge sites and more than 100 other beds are prepared now to take patients.
More than half a dozen other facilities on standby.
The governor said hospital staffing is the biggest need for overwhelmed facilities across the state. He says he has requests into the federal government.
“We have outstanding requests with the department of defense and outstanding requests at health and human services,” Newsom said.
Vaccine distribution continues across California, with the state anticipating more shipments from Pfizer and Moderna by the end of December.
Newsom said Friday the state is developing a vaccine data dashboard for the public to see how many people have been vaccinated so far each day.