San Luis Obispo County Hospital officials sound the alarm that the COVID-19 pandemic has been severely underestimated on the central coast.
Some local ICUs have no beds available this week, according to the director of the ICU at the French Hospital Medical Center, Dr. Mark Soll. He, along with other heads of hospitals, wants the community to know that the dramatic increase in hospitalizations for COVID-19 and admissions to the ICU are stressing our hospitals.
“Things have really increased in hospitals and we are starting to have to look for beds to put patients in,” Dr. Soll said.
He explained that his hospital’s 11 ICU beds are full, with six COVID-19 patients and five more. The staffing is also stretched a lot.
“You see all these people complaining that we’re in Southern California with an 85% occupancy. Well, we’re in such a bad shape, if not worse, than much of Southern California,” Soll said.
He claims that our region is extremely vulnerable, adding that the central coast already has half the number of hospital beds than most of the country, which is already a busy time due in part to the flu and other respiratory illnesses. pandemic.
He adds that the mandate to stay at the governor’s house is necessary for our area.
“A lot of people have shown up against this unnecessarily on the central coast because we’re in good shape. Well, they don’t know what they’re talking about. We’re not in good shape,” Soll said.
He says at the French Hospital they are making plans for an auxiliary ICU for COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients. The problem he claims, however, is that there are not enough staff to care for patients.
“You can only ask people to work at 150% for so long and right now we’re fine and everyone is willing to do it, but at some point things break down,” Soll said.