The situation in local hospitals continues to intensify as a spike in COVID-19 admissions in recent days has pushed some facilities past their worst points this summer, hospital administrators said Wednesday.
At the two Mercy hospitals in Bakersfield, space for critical care patients has run out. There were 32 ICU patients in the downtown and southwest hospitals at one point Wednesday morning but only 28 beds, according to Bruce Peters, CEO of the two hospitals. Almost half the ICU patients were on ventilators, he said.
Bakersfield Memorial Hospital is now averaging 70 patients a day in its ICU, up from 48 patients a day last week, said its CEO Ken Keller.
Coronavirus cases continue their rollercoaster ride in Kern County
Grant Simpson/23ABC News
and last updated 2020-12-16 14:54:27-05
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) â The number of daily positive tests for COVID-19 continues its rollercoaster ride. Following Tuesday s record-breaking day for coronavirus cases, the numbers on Wednesday have been cut in half.
Kern County Public Health reported just under a thousand new COVID cases, a day after that record of more than 2,000.
Public health said Tuesday that the record number included cases from local prisons and skilled nursing facilities. It s not known if the latest numbers included either group.
There were no new deaths reported. That total number in Kern County sits at 470.
The question was bound to come up at some point: What happens when an employer tells its workers to get a COVID-19 vaccine but some don t want to?
Bottom line, an employer can make vaccinations a condition of employment, workplace specialists say. But it s not always that simple â it has to be job-related, for example, and local employers say they intend to proceed cautiously.
Federal authorities say no less than three-quarters of the population will have to be vaccinated before the pandemic can be brought fully under control. Given how divisive the pandemic has already been, how thoughtfully employers approach the matter could prove critical.
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As the first 327,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine begin arriving in California, most San Joaquin Valley hospitals expect their initial shipments within the next few days.
Some hospitals, however, have already begun receiving them. In a video posted to Twitter, employees of Valley Children’s Hospital applauded next to a freezer set to negative 78 degrees Celsius, the temperature colder than Antarctica’s annual average that’s needed to store the vaccine produced by Pfizer and BioNTech. The Madera County hospital was one of the first to receive the 17,000 doses in this first batch slated for the Valley.
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