Coronavirus updates: California ICU capacity drops to 4% as cases, deaths hit highs Sacramento Bee 12/17/2020 Michael McGough, The Sacramento Bee Dec. 17—Intensive care unit space is scarce and becoming thinner by the day in California, where mountains of new coronavirus cases are also being detected on a daily basis — a distressing sign that an even worse hospital crisis and higher death tolls could be looming in the coming weeks. The state's hospital systems are burdened by nearly 15,000 confirmed COVID-19 patients, recently surpassing double the summer peak experienced in July. Almost 3,200 of the current patients are in intensive care, state data show.