In Los Angeles County, about two people are dying every hour on average from the virus, something the county's public health officer called an "explosive and very deadly surge."
At Methodist Hospital in Arcadia on Thursday, frontline medical workers were among the latest to receive the COVID vaccination.
"We've had this huge surge, because of the thanksgiving holiday and people getting together. There's no other explanation for the surge," said Dr. Bala Chandrasekhar, the hospital's chief medical officer. "And so please don't repeat the something at Christmas time. Because if you get sick there will be longer wait times and there may not be an ICE bed for you because of staffing or because of no ICU bed. We may not even have beds available for non-ICU patients. "
According to the latest Los Angeles County data, 4,656 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Wednesday. That number has increased by nearly 1,000 in less than a week.
"If they need to be admitted we will keep them in the emergency room until a bed is available," Chandrasekhar said. "We are talking to all of our physicians to do early discharges for patients who can go home and get them out early in the morning so we can move them from the emergency room the the med surge rooms upstairs."
Even if hospitals add more ICU beds, most don't have the extra staff to help with the surge of patients.
