Construction is expected to begin at least Wednesday at a mobile field hospital in Orange County, as coronavirus cases and hospitalizations reach record highs.
At least three hospitals have requested mobile field hospitals in response to the alarming figures. They will be located here.
- Fountain Valley Regional Hospital: 50 beds
- St. John’s Medical Center Jude, Fullerton: 25 beds
- University of California, Irvine: 50 beds
This illustration provided by the Agency Health Care Agency shows a design of a mobile field hospital. Credit: OCHCA
The county on Tuesday reported 2,173 new COVID-19 infections, bringing the total accumulated case to 107,937. Hospitalizations rose from 1,287 on Monday to 1,371 on Tuesday, including 296 ICU patients, compared to 288 the previous day.
Both are new records, a daily fact since last week.
The consistently high figures have reduced the availability of beds in the county ICU, which rose from 9.3% on Monday to 10.4% in the unadjusted category, and increased from zero to 1.4% in the metric “ adjusted ”that the state created to reflect the difference in available beds. for COVID-19 patients and patients without coronavirus.
The percentage of beds available in the ICU in the Southern California region, eleven counties, is 1.7%.
Both Modern and Pfizer / BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines were developed using mRNA (messenger RNA abbreviation) technology. Here’s how they work.
To meet the need, mobile tents are set up to be housed in large trailers and include canvas tents with hard floors and temperature-controlled units that have running water, toilets, showers and generators, as well as air purifiers. Fountain Valley Regional Hospital will get 50 more beds, St. Jude’s in Fullerton will receive 25 and UC Irvine will have 50.
I lose sleep every night. I am scared. I’ve never been so scared of Christmas and New Year in my entire life.
Dr. Clayton Chau, director of the Orange County Health Agency
“We’ve seen a lot of tension shops that have gone up in hospitals in the region,” ICU spokesman John Murray said. “Usually, this is to manage the overflow of things like emergency services, patients waiting, they want to give them shelter. That’s really a little different.”
It was not immediately known how the field hospitals will be equipped and what types of patients will be treated.
“We have a group that will meet over the next two days to decide,” UCI spokesman John Murray said. “The seller will be on site early next week to install the mobile field hospital.”
Dr. Vahe Gyulnazaryan discusses the challenges posed by the latest wave of coronavirus cases and their difference from previous ones. Video aired Wednesday, December 16, 2020 on Today in Los Angeles.
Work is expected to begin on Wednesday on an empty lot next to the UCI medical center. The mobile field hospital may be ready to begin operations by the end of next week.
Orange County is awaiting the first shipment of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine, which will be distributed to medical workers. About 25,000 doses are expected to arrive Wednesday, according to Orange County CEO Frank Kim.
As has been the case for months, dozens of residents on Tuesday appealed to the Board of Supervisors to ignore the state’s stay-at-home order and criticized face coverings. Orange County Attorney Leon Page explained that Gov. Gavin Newsom’s executive order is the last word on the stay-at-home order and that the county can’t do anything to change it.
Dr. Clayton Chau, county health chief and director of the Orange County Health Care Agency, made an emotional call to residents to adhere to physical distances and facial coverage warrants.
“The only thing we know is that people should stay home when they are sick, not mix homes and wear a mask and do all the cleaning measures like washing their hands, etc.,” Chau said. “That’s the only thing that works.”
Chau speculated that new treatments may help keep most hospitalized patients out of intensive care.
“But people continue to end up in the hospital and still in the ICU,” Chau said. “Without all of these recently approved treatment options, the number of people in the ICU would probably be worse.”
County health officials are particularly struggling to house elderly people with dementia, who are infected and have no symptoms, Chau said.
“We can’t send them to a hospital … They don’t need that level of care,” Chau said. “And we can’t send them to a nursing home … nor can we send them to a hotel.”
These patients will likely be housed at the Costa Mesa Fairview Developmental Center, which is expected to open Thursday.
“But we only have the availability of 50 beds,” Chau said. “We will run out of options to take care of these people.”