Role of ICU beds 75% 80% 85% 90% 95% No data Use both fingers to pan and zoom. Tap for details. Source: New York Times Analysis of US Department of Health and Human Services Data. Note: Shows the average number of patients per 7 days based on the hospital service area. In El Paso, hospitals reported last week that only 13 of the 400 intensive care beds were not occupied. In Barco, N.D., there were only three. In Albuquerque, there was zero. One-third of Americans live in areas where there are no intensive care beds in hospitals, federal data show, revealing a new comprehensive picture of the country’s hospital crisis in the worst week of the Govt-19 epidemic. Hospitals serving more than 100 million Americans reported less than 15 percent intensive care beds as of last week, according to a Times analysis of data released by hospitals and the Department of Health and Human Services. Many areas are even worse: one in 10 Americans in Central America, South and Southwest – lives in an area where intensive care beds are fully packed or less than 5 percent of the beds are available. In these conditions, experts say it is difficult or impossible to maintain the quality of care for sick patients. “Only our leading care can provide, especially when you come to these rural districts, where you are currently severely affected by the epidemic,” said Beth Flaver, director of civic impact centers at Johns Hopkins University. He said a sharp increase in Govt-19 patients would overwhelm smaller hospitals. “The disease progresses very quickly and becomes ugly very quickly. When you do not have that ability, it means that people will die.” The new data released on Monday is the first time the federal government has released detailed geographical information on Govt-19 patients in hospitals, a long time ago by public health officials. One thing that has been said is that it is important to respond to the epidemic and understand its impact. 175 31 79% 79% Troy, Mich.% Abington, Pa. 132 30 77% 102% Fort Thomas, Ky. 121 31 146% 82% Amarillo, Texas 117 42 78% 94% Saginaw, Mich. 117 23 98% 99 % Oak Lawn, Il. 78% Patterson, NJ 110 17 71% 50% Jonesboro, Ark. 109 28 78% 94% Altona, Pa. 103 19 94% 94% More Show Reference : Locations shown indicate hospital service areas, and national averages service areas where data are available. More than 100 percent can occur when hospitals report patients beyond their normal limits. Hospital admission figures collected by the Govt tracking program show that the number of hospital admissions to the virus has more than doubled since the beginning of November across the country. But existing state-level statistics obscure broad differences within states and make it difficult to identify local hotspots. New data show that areas such as Amarillo, Texas, Coral Cables, Fla., And Troy, Mitch are seeing rates of serious illnesses from Govt-19, a spring approaching levels seen in the worst weeks in New York City. Govit-19 patients per 100,000 20 30 40 50 60 70 70 80 No data Use two fingers to pan and zoom. Tap for details. Political leaders in several states are taking steps to try to slow the spread. Last week, California hospitals issued shelter orders for areas beyond 85 percent of intensive care. The government of New Mexico, Michael Lujan Grisham, which is full of ICUs across the state, is expected to announce soon that hospitals can provide ration care based on who is likely to survive. Doctors and researchers said the shortage was already causing severe damage. In North Dakota, the fall had been the worst epidemic in the country for several weeks, with the number of unused ICU beds in the entire state sometimes dropping to single digits in early November. In the small town of Minot, the local hospital, Trinity Health, dedicated more than just the entire site of its six-story hospital to corona virus patients. Other North Dakota hospitals will generally accept transfers to help reduce loads, but when Dr. Jeffrey Chader, head of medical staff, called for help, he saw that everywhere else was overcrowded. Patients kept coming to his emergency room. “They have no place to go,” he said. Survival rates from the disease have improved as doctors know which treatments work. But the hospital shortage will alter those profits, thus putting patients at risk of re-increasing mortality rates by not being able to get the amount of care they need. Thomas Chai, an assistant professor of health policy at Harvard University, says when resources are critically constrained, health workers who are already fuel-intensive are forced to make emotional decisions about who gets attention. There is some evidence that doctors are already controlling attention, Dr. Sai said. Over the past several weeks, the rate at which Covid-19 patients go to hospitals has begun to decline. “This suggests that there are some rational and rigorous testing criteria as to who will be admitted as hospitals are overcrowded,” he said. In California, a shortage of hospital beds triggered the closure of most parts of the state by Monday, with hospital staff bracing for the next few months. More than 10,000 Govt-19 patients are now hospitalized in the state, more than 70 percent more than they were two weeks ago, and the effects of Thanksgiving leave are not yet fully realized. At the University of California San Diego Medical Center, just nine intensive care beds were not used on Monday. The mood at the hospital was one of resignation, said Associate Chief Medical Officer Dr Chris Longhurst. For months, health workers have been seen ignoring their advice to take precautionary measures and prevent the spread of the virus, and now, inevitably, they see more people getting sick at their doorstep. “A lot of health workers are worried about this, about incompatibility, and now we see it playing out and you feel like you have resigned,” he said. “You have to go to work every day and help people who need hospital care, but we want it to be parked upstream.” So far, policymakers have relied heavily on test and trial data to make policy decisions, including whether schools and businesses should remain open. But Ms Flavor, Johns Hopkins, said the new, comprehensive information on hospitals could lead to a rapid change in what leaders think when they make decisions. “If you live in a place that doesn’t have an ICU bed for 100 miles, you have to be incredibly careful about the social interaction that allows the community to pick you up,” he said.