SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KRON) - Along with more positive COVID cases comes more hospitalization.
According to the city of San Francisco's COVID dashboard, there were 97 total COVID-19 hospitalizations on Jan. 2. That's up from just 21 hospitalizations the day before Thanksgiving.
"Well, we have seen our ICU occupancy going up--just like every other county."
Dr. Ahmad Kamal with the Santa Clara Department of Healthcare Preparedness says it's not currently as high as it was in December of 2020.
"But given what we're seeing in terms of community transmission, in terms of case numbers. We're monitoring the situation very closely."
He says omicron does seem to cause less severe illness but with a higher number of people being infected, it is likely more people could continue to end up in the hospital and possibly the ICU.
Dr. Kamal says they're prepared for that.
"We work with hospitals regularly to make sure that they do everything that they can for contingency planning and that includes pulling staff from other areas."
According to CA.gov, the number of ICU COVID-positive patients has increased in Contra Costa County from just seven on Dec. 21 to 25 on Jan. 5.
Chief Medical Officer for John Muir Health Russell Rodriguez says their ICU numbers have been very manageable but they are struggling in other areas.
Many staff members are out sick with COVID or other seasonal illnesses and their emergency department is bombarded with COVID patients.
"Surging ED volume because people are coming in because they can't get tests elsewhere, they're concerned because they do have symptoms and they want to know if they have COVID."
He says it's putting strain on the department and don't come to the emergency department for a test or mild symptoms, go to a community testing center.
He says if your symptoms become severe, then go to the emergency department.
"If you're having shortness of breath, chest pain, just rapidly worsening symptoms, high fevers, things like that, then you should seek care."
Both health officials encourage people to take all the health precautions they can: masking, distancing, vaccinations and boosters.
from KRON4 https://ift.tt/34jRRkM
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