The percentage of intensive care unit beds available in Southern California remained at zero percent Friday, according to the California Department of Public Health.
Friday marks the second consecutive day the 11-county region has reported zero percent ICU availability. The state’s overall ICU capacity dropped from 3 percent yesterday to 2.1 percent today, according to California’s COVID-19 website.
Though ICU availability from Thursday remained stagnant at zero, total hospitalizations of infected COVID-19 patients in Los Angeles County rose by the hundreds. Thursday, the state reported a total of 5,100 hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the county — Friday, it reported 5,424 hospitalized patients, according to the CDPH.
Total county hospitalizations including hospitalized patients suspected of having COVID-19 is 5,763 patients.
The new data indicates LA County is on a fast track to meet what county officials have estimated will be a demand for 5,500 to 9,000 hospital beds “in weeks ahead,” “far [surpassing] any ability of a hospital to surge,” Dr. Christina Ghaly, LA County Health Services director, said at a press conference Wednesday.
Claremont’s cumulative COVID-19 case rate as of Thursday was 2,900 positive cases per 100,000 residents, an uptick from the reported Wednesday rate of 2,826 positive cases per 100,000 residents, according to LA County’s website.
In the past 14 days, Claremont has had a recorded 836 positive COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents, according to the Los Angeles Times.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s previously announced stay-at-home orders, which are enacted when a region’s ICU availability dips below 15 percent, remain in place for Southern California. Currently, 98.3 percent of the state’s population are under regional stay-at-home-order.
Southern California’s seven-day average COVID-19 case rate is 828 cases per 100,000 residents as of Thursday, an increase of more than 100 from Wednesday’s seven-day average of 712 cases per 100,000 residents, according to the Los Angeles Times.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
This article was last updated December 21, 2020 at 7:48 p.m.