Intensive Care Unit (ICU) capacity in 11 counties in Southern California has dropped to 0 percent after the surge of COVID-19 infections.

California Governor Gavin Newsom has already announced recently that if the bed capacity of a region on his state fell below 15 percent, an immediate regional lockdown will be implemented.

But things got worst as the ICU capacity in Southern California dropped to 0 percent.

ICU capacity dropped to 0%

The United States remains the country in the world with the highest rate of infections and deaths. Among the states in the country, California has the highest number of COVID-19 infections that have already reached more than 1.7 million and with a death toll of more than 22,000, according to Worldometers.

As the number of cases continues to increase in California, the Southern region of the state reported on Thursday that the ICU capacity in 11 counties has already dropped to 0 percent.

This is after the state reported on Wednesday new 52,281 COVID-19 cases according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.

Additionally, there were 379 Californians who also died due to COVID-19 on Thursday. This marked the highest fatality in the state in just one day since the pandemic began.

The number of deaths has also surpassed the recorded number in the previous day.

The Southern California region includes Imperial, Inyo, Los Angeles, Mono, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties.

While this new development sounds alarming, this does not necessarily mean there are no ICU beds available in the large Southern California region, according to NBC Los Angeles.

How hospitals address ICU congestion

Hospitals with filled ICUs stepped up and made some strategies to ensure that the sickest patients still get the highest levels of care as much as possible.

However, they have to move some patients who would typically be in the intensive care unit to other areas of the hospital, such as a recovery area, or keep them in the emergency room for longer than normal.

One major problem that these hospitals face is the lack of doctors and nurses if the number of COVID-19 patients or critically ill patients continue to swell.

If this happens, there is a great chance that patients will not get the care that they need, which may in turn lead to more mortality.

A report from The Los Angeles Times also said that officials have also been training medical personnel who work elsewhere in hospitals to allow them to work in ICUs and seeking nurses from outside the United States.

But the number of critically ill patients has significantly increased over the past few days.

As of this time, there are now more than 1,000 people COVID-19 patients who are now in the Intensive Care Units in Los Angeles County.

This is four times higher compared to the record on November 1. Another forecast also said that there could be 1,600 to 3,600 COVID-19 patients in need of ICU beds if virus transmission trends remain the same.