The coronavirus pandemic continues to produce soaring hospitalization numbers in Los Angeles County, with COVID-19 patients surpassing the 8,000 mark, and medical centers contending with limited staffing and difficulties discharging less critically ill patients to free up beds.

Meanwhile, the county reported another 224 coronavirus-related deaths on Tuesday, one of the highest single-day numbers of the pandemic.

It was unclear if the unusually high total was the result of a delay in reporting from the holiday weekend. But health officials noted that more than 1,000 people have died from the virus in the past week alone, pushing the countywide death toll over the 11,000 mark, reaching 11,071.

According to numbers released by the state Tuesday, Los Angeles County had a pandemic-high 8,023 COVID-19 patients in hospitals, including 1,642 in intensive-care units. The county's 70 "911-receiving'' hospitals with emergency rooms have a total licensed capacity of about 2,500 ICU beds, although in recent weeks they have implemented surge plans and staffed a daily average of about 3,000 ICU beds.

As of Tuesday, however, there were no longer any local hospitals on "internal disaster'' status, which occurred at some facilities over the weekend, effectively shutting them off to all levels of ambulance traffic. But the situation remained critical at hospitals as they struggled to handle the unending stream of new patients.

"Countywide, for all hospitals, the issues are really the same,'' Dr. Christina Ghaly, the county health services director, told the Board of Supervisors. "All hospitals are working through staffing issues, many are working through infrastructure and oxygen-supply issues, which are complicated and numerous.''

Ghaly said Monday that almost all hospitals over the weekend diverted advanced life-support ambulances due overcrowding in the emergency department.

She told the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday that in addition to the continued stream of new patients, hospitals are coping with various other problems, including continuing issues with oxygen supplies and delivery systems. Hospitals also have continued to experience backlogs of ambulances in emergency bays, some waiting hours to off-load patients due to lack of space.

The California Department of Public Health issued a new public health order Tuesday that requires some non-essential and non-life-threatening surgeries to be delayed in counties where the regional ICU capacity is at 0%, which includes all of Southern California. The order will remain in effect for at least three weeks.

"If we continue to see an alarming increase of COVID-19 patient admissions at hospitals statewide, some facilities may not be able to provide the critical and necessary care Californians need, whether those patients have COVID-19 or another medical condition,'' said Dr. Tomas J. Aragon, state public health officer. "This order helps ensure that patients continue to receive appropriate medical services by better distributing available resources across the state to prevent overwhelming specific hospitals, counties and regions.''

Ghaly said hospitals are also dealing with increased absences of staff who are getting sick or exposed to the virus themselves.

"Just as transmission increases within the community, health care workers get sick too,'' she said.

But the problem extends beyond just medical teams.

"We are still facing critical call-outs from staff that aren't eligible for the vaccine right now, and that includes supply chain (personnel), power plant, people fixing the oxygen system and other areas,'' she said.

https://abc7.com/health/la-county-covid-deaths-surpass-11k-hospitalizations-top-8k/9406733/