How LA was uniquely vulnerable to this COVID-19 catastrophe
LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles is careening toward catastrophe.
An explosion of COVID-19 patients has begun to flood hospitals and may soon force doctors to ration care. The number of available beds in intensive care units is rapidly dropping to zero, as healthcare providers plead with people not to come to emergency rooms unless it's a matter of life or death.
"Ambulances are circling hospitals for hours trying to find one that has a bed open so they can bring in their critically ill COVID patient gasping for air," a doctor at an L.A. County public hospital said last week, describing the "apocalyptic" scene. "We're literally hanging on by a thread."
And there are no signs of reprieve. The number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals is expected to grow through January — or beyond, if Christmas traveling and social gatherings fuel further spread of the virus.
If there is yet another wave in a few weeks, it "will result in Northern Italy-slash-New York visions of people in hallways," L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti said in an interview. "We're on the verge of that."
