Record Number Of County Hospitalizations For COVID-19

As is the case in much of the rest of the country, the coronavirus crisis in San Bernardino County has intensified to a previously uncharted intensity, as patients considered to be seriously or critically ill with the disease now account for nearly one-fourth of those now hospitalized locally as the region’s hospitals are filled to nearly two-thirds of their maximum capacities.
According to figures released by the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health, the sheer number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 in San Bernardino County has eclipsed the previous record set on July 25, when the summer surge in the disease saddled county hospitals and medical centers with 638 coronavirus inpatients. At 4 p.m. today, there were 661 patients confirmed as infected with COVID-19 checked into San Bernardino County’s hospitals.
The hospitalization rate has advanced, the Sentinel has learned, to the point that at San Antonio Regional Hospital in Upland, a portion of the hospital’s pediatric, geriatric and maternity sections have been converted to quarters to accommodate those suffering from coronavirus symptoms.
On Wednesday, the Sentinel was told, San Antonio Hospital had pitched a large tent on its grounds, which was outfitted with heaters wherein the influx of patients who had come to the facility because of concerns over their actual or potential COVID-19 status were being triaged, or evaluated, for admittance into the hospital. The wait on that determination was in some cases longer than two hours, the Sentinel was informed.
At present, at least 167 of the 661 COVID-19-positive patients hospitalized are in intensive care units. That compares favorably with the summer surge, when a record of 197 people in the county were receiving hospitalized intensive care as of July 22.
The 661 beds monopolized by patients with the coronavirus means that 23 percent of the 2,652 patients currently hospitalized in San Bernardino County are afflicted with the condition.
Nonetheless, the county at present yet has further hospital bed capacity, as the 2,652 hospitalized patients are now filling 64.97 percent of the county’s 4,082 currently available hospital beds. If necessary, hospital administrators are prepared to convert unused space in their hospitals, including hallways, staging rooms, as well as briefing and conference rooms to use as clinical space for an increase in coronavirus patients.

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