VENTURA, Calif. (KABC) Ventura County is dealing with a holiday surge. The eight-hospital system is near capacity with nearly 1,000 patients and nearly half of them are infected with COVID-19. Fourty-four percent roughly have patients in the hospital are COVID patients, and it s a record number of patients we have county-wide. It is a great strain on the system. The hospitals and their wonderful professionals are doing an amazing job of managing it. We can t keep it up at this rate said Ventura County CEO Michael Powers. The hospitals are very full. Our ERs are very full. At times we don t have places to put ambulances. The more ambulances come into our hospitals, there s no place to put those patients, said Steve Carroll with Ventura County Emergency Medical.