Arizona hospitals report using up to 4 times more oxygen than they did pre-pandemic In Los Angeles, emergency responders are being ordered to only give oxygen to certain patients in order to conserve it amid the pandemic. Author: Colleen Sikora Updated: 4:31 AM MST January 11, 2021 PHOENIX — With no cure for COVID-19, oxygen is one of the main ways doctors are able to help those with the virus. But in Los Angeles, emergency responders have been ordered to only give oxygen to certain patients in order to conserve it. “There’s no reason that if it’s happening there that it can’t happen here,” Dr. Brandon Lawrence, an ER physician in the West Valley, said.