California on Wednesday set a new record for COVID-19 deaths, reporting more than 400 new deaths. Hospitalizations are also on the rise, prompting doctors such as Dr. Tirso del Junco, Jr., chief medical officer at KPC Health Global Medical Centers, to warn that “We are on the verge of truly catastrophic times.”
Del Junco said Southern California hospitals now face the grim prospect of streamlining care.
“When you have more patients going into cardiac arrest or code blues, not everyone can answer them. So they have to make a choice. Who do I answer? Who don’t I answer?” he said.
Many COVID patients are now in their 20s and 30s, he added.
California received more bad news Wednesday when joined Colorado into the reporting a case of the new contagious strain of coronavirus. The new variant was first reported in the United Kingdom and has since been identified in several countries.
“We have been informed that this new variant, which we have obviously identified from the United Kingdom, has been identified here in the state of California, in Southern California,” Governor Gavin Newsom said Wednesday during a virtual discussion with Dr. Anthony Fauci. , the nations’ greatest expert on infectious diseases.
“I’m not surprised you have one case and probably more cases in California, and we’ll probably see reports from other states,” Fauci said. A case has been confirmed in COLORADO, and another is suspected.
“Both cases are members of the Colorado National Guard who were both deployed to support staff at the Good Samaritan Retirement Home,” said Dr. Rachel Herlihy, a state epidemiologist with the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment.
Herlihy said the nursing home has an ongoing coronavirus outbreak.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday that there is no evidence that the new strain is more deadly or resistant to the vaccine. Current instructions, such as wearing a mask and social distancing, should still be followed, the agency said.
Scientists in England believe that the variant spreads much faster and may contain mutations, facilitating the infection of children.
Correction: This article has been updated to reflect the fact that the second case of the Colorado variant has not been confirmed.