SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Since the coronavirus pandemic took hold in the U.S., Sara Houze has been on the road going from one hospital to another to care for COVID-19 patients on the brink of death.
A cardiac intensive care nurse from Washington, D.C., with expertise in heart rhythm, airway and pain management, her skills are in great demand as infections and hospitalizations skyrocket nationwide. Houze is among more than 500 nurses, doctors and other medical staff California has deployed to hospitals that are running out of capacity to treat the most severe COVID-19 cases.
Her six-week assignment started Monday in San Bernardino, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) east of Los Angeles, and she anticipates working 14-hour shifts with a higher-than-usual caseload. San Bernardino County has 1,545 people in hospitals and more than 125 are in makeshift “surge beds, which are being used because regular hospital space isn t available.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Since the coronavirus pandemic took hold in the U.S., Sara Houze has been on the road going from one hospital to another to care for COVID-19 patients on the brink of death.
A cardiac intensive care nurse from Washington, D.C., with expertise in heart rhythm, airway and pain management, her skills are in great demand as infections and hospitalizations skyrocket nationwide. Houze is among more than 500 nurses, doctors and other medical staff California has deployed to hospitals that are running out of capacity to treat the most severe COVID-19 cases.
Her six-week assignment started Monday in San Bernardino, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) east of Los Angeles, and she anticipates working 14-hour shifts with a higher-than-usual caseload. San Bernardino County has 1,545 people in hospitals and more than 125 are in makeshift “surge” beds, which are being used because regular hospital space isn’t available.
U.S. hospitals facing worrisome shortage of nurses, doctors
States are turning to foreign medical workers, retired nurses and even medical students as the number of patients grow.
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Nurses prepare to prone a COVID-19 patient at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in the Mission Hills section of Los Angeles on Nov. 19. [ JAE C. HONG | AP ]
Updated Dec. 23, 2020
SAN FRANCISCO â With so many states seeing a flood of coronavirus patients, U.S. hospitals are again worried about finding enough medical workers to meet demand just as infections from the holiday season threaten to add to the burden on American health care.
Covid 19 coronavirus: US record deadliest year yet in history with states desperately in search for medical staff
22 Dec, 2020 05:14 AM
7 minutes to read
A Registered Nurse works on a computer while assisting a Covid-19 patient at Providence Holy Cross Medical Centre in Los Angeles. Photo / AP
AP
This is the deadliest year in US history, with deaths expected to top 3 million for the first time due mainly to the coronavirus pandemic.
Final mortality data for this year will not be available for months. But preliminary numbers suggest that the United States is on track to see more than 3.2 million deaths this year, or at least 400,000 more than in 2019. US deaths increase most years, so some annual rise in fatalities is expected. But the 2020 numbers amount to a jump of about 15 per cent, and could go higher once all the deaths from this month are counted.