By Miriam Raftery

December 11, 2020 (San Diego) – San Diego County reported 2,040 cases on Dec. 9, as the availability of ICU beds (ICU capacity) in the Southern California region dropped to just 7.7%.  While San Diego still has just over 20% of ICU beds available, Orange and Imperial Counties are at or near capacity, meaning patients may be turned away or diverted to hospitals in adjacent counties, further stressing San Diego’s medical care system.

Nationwide, at least 200 hospitals are at full capacity and a third are nearly out of ICU beds, with over 90% of ICU beds occupied, CNN reported Dec. 10, based on data from the  US Department of Health and Human Services.

A database now available to the public now shows capacity of all hospitals in San Diego County. Although it does not list ICU beds, it does reveal that some hospitals are filling up. Sharp Hospital in Chula Vista has 93% of its adult inpatient beds in use (just 7% available); Palomar Medical Center has 91% in use, Sharp Grossmont Hospital and UCSD Medical Center each have 85% of all beds for adult inpatients occupied.

Southern California expected to reach that threshold in early December

By Miriam Raftery

View Governor’s press conference:  https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1ynJOBbXEdZGR

December 3, 2020 (San Diego) – California is running out of beds in intensive care units (ICU) needed for the most critically ill patients as COVID-19 surges. Statewide, demand for ICU beds is expected to exceed capacity by mid-December, while Southern California may exceed ICU capacity even sooner.

To save lives and prevent a crisis in our healthcare system, Governor Gavin Newsom announced new restrictions including regional stay-home orders and some business shut-downs once a region dips below 15% ICU bed capacity.