COVID-19 outbreaks among Los Angeles healthcare workers has further strained staffing at hospitals, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The strain comes as California is seeing a surge. As of Jan. 6, the number of new COVID-19 cases increased by 1.2 percent from the day prior, according to state data.
In Southern California, where Los Angeles County is located, paramedics were told Jan. 4 not to transport patients with little chance of survival, and hospitals have faced shortages of oxygen.
At the same time, more than 2,200 people who work at hospitals in Los Angeles County tested positive for COVID-19 in December, according to the L.A. Times.
All these factors can exacerbate the risk of staffing shortages at facilities already stretched thin as workers recover, and the surge continues.
Anish Mahajan, MD, chief medical officer of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, Calif., told the L.A. Times that a worker "who wears their PPE perfectly and deals with high-risk patients doesn't get sick at work. When they get home, their teenager might give them COVID. We see that a lot. We end up short-staffed in everything, from nurses to doctors to even the custodial staff that helps us turn over the rooms. And all of that makes it even more difficult to take an onslaught of more and more patients."
The newspaper reported that the federal government is lending combat medics and nurses to assist hospitals in the state; Los Angeles County has redeployed nearly 800 clinic nurses to work in public hospitals; and other facilities have recruited healthcare workers from other hospital departments to assist in the intensive care unit.
Read the full L.A. Times report here.