The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services in California have confirmed that several hospitals have declared an internal disaster situation and are even turning away patients due to lack of oxygen facilities.
There has been a serious lack of oxygen to treat coronavirus patients as supply seems to be steadily deteriorating. In addition to this, there has also been a severe issue supplying canisters as well as hospital pipes that are breaking down by the minute.
“First, high levels of oxygen are necessary to treat patients with COVID-19, and that level may be up to 10 times more than normal usage,” the department was quoted saying in a report. “Hospitals, in general, are running out of oxygen sooner than under their normal conditions, and the oxygen suppliers are changing their processes to respond to the hospitals’ needs.”
Some hospitals have started moving their patient to lower floors due to lack of pressure pumps to pump them to the higher floors. This has resulted in a lot of patients being cramped in a congested environment. The intensive care units are overflowing as it is, with 0% capacity available, and patients are made to wait for hours on end in the ambulance as they wait for a bed to be cleared.
While the world has seen an influx of media houses pouncing on news scoops of lack of medical facilities in developing countries, they seem to have gone missing in action when the same happens in a developed country like the US.