KHTS Radio Santa Clarita Radio – Santa Clarita News
Three additional COVID-19 deaths have been reported at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital as hospitalizations increase.
The additional coronavirus deaths bring the total at Henry Mayo to 42, according to Patrick Moody, spokesperson for the hospital.
Due to Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulations, hospital officials are unable to release the identities of those who have died.
There are 65 COVID-19 patients in the hospital as of Monday, Dec. 7, while 439 patients have been discharged since the hospital’s first case was reported in March, according to the spokesperson.
The COVID-19 patients at Henry Mayo are being treated in a specialized unit in the hospital’s patient tower, Moody said.
Those in the COVID-19 unit are able to receive the same level of care as the intensive care unit (ICU), without taking beds in the ICU for non-COVID patients.
“We can provide ICU level care in that unit,” Moody said in a previous story. “But, by not having the patients in the main hospital, that frees up our ICU for patients who don’t have COVID.”
Henry Mayo is able to increase the number of patients in the COVID unit based on demand, according to Moody.
As with nearly every hospital in California, the number of beds is not the concern, with Henry Mayo needing to ensure adequate staffing for the influx of patients, Moody said.
Last month on Nov. 11, Henry Mayo reported 20 COVID-19 patents in the hospital.
The number of coronavirus patients increased to 39 by Nov. 24, reaching over 50 by the end of November, according to the hospital.
On Monday, Henry Mayo officials reported 65 COVID-19 patients in the hospital, with a total of 439 discharged since March.
Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital has conducted 13,115 COVID-19 tests. Of those, 1,581 have tested positive, and five tests are still pending, according to Moody.
See Related: L.A. County Reports Record-High COVID-19 Cases For Fifth Day This Week Ahead Of Stay-At-Home Order
Hospitalizations are increasing across the country, with the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health reporting a record number of COVID-19 patients in the hospital.
There are 2,855 people hospitalized with COVID-19 across L.A. County as of Sunday, 23 percent of which are in the ICU.
The number of hospitalizations exceeds the peak of 2,232 people hospitalized with COVID-19 during the July surge. The daily number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 has increased nearly every day since Nov. 1 when the daily number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 was 799.
ICU capacity is the metric measured by the state of California to put into effect the regional stay-at-home order.
On Saturday, the Southern California region dipped below the 15% ICU capacity available, with the order implemented at midnight on Sunday.
The order is expected to last for three weeks until 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 27.
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You report three additional COVID-19 patients died. What was the time frame?
Also you report there are 65 patients in the hospital as of December 7, 2020 are all. 65 patients COVID-19 patients?
Thank you
Henry Mayo has had plenty of time to provide beds for Covid patients. Are they ill prepared?! If so, people in charge should be fired for negligence. This isn’t shocking with flu season and Covid. More hospitalizations would be expected during this time and you don’t need to be a doctor to figure that out.
Instead of shutting down Billions of dollars in business’s due to an arbitrary ICU capacity %
Why haven’t our elected officials, increased ICU capacity “significantly in advance” of their much talked about for months on end of the coming second, third surge, let alone the flu season
I’m just curious about the number of people who were hospitalized that had complications due to the seasonal flu the same time last year. Was it more or less than what is being reported?
Exactly unless they desire to kill small business on purpose. We had that huge hospital ship last spring that was sent away. Why not bring that back?
Exactly, Amanda. Makes you wonder…
Re-read the article. The number of available beds is not the issue. It’s having adequate staff that concerns the hospital. Providing more beds or bringing back the hospital ship doesn’t help if there isn’t enough staff.
Staffing should’ve been planned in the event of a surge. But more layoffs occurred. Now the hospital is failing the community because they are unable to provide care for Covid and flu hospitalizations. Did anyone see this coming in Winter flu season?
FYI,
California called for a “Health Corps” to care for COVID patients, and more than 95,000 people signied up back in June during that lockdown that never really ended.
Of the tens of thousands who responded to the call to join the Health Corps, fewer than 800 have been hired by the state according to state program data reviewed by Reuters.
As an example, Loma Linda’s six-campus hospital system, with an annual budget of about $2 billion, lost $160 million in revenue alone in two months, an amount dwarfing its typical annual operating margin of $40-$80 million during the same period. The system was forced to trimmed hours and laid off about 1,000 employees.
We see the unpredictability of this virus. Some of you think you could have done a better job preparing for this.