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LOS ANGELES -- Increasingly desperate California hospitals are being "crushed" by soaring coronavirus infections, with one Los Angeles emergency doctor predicting Friday that rationing of care is imminent.
The most populous state recorded more than 41,000 new confirmed cases and 300 deaths, both among the highest single-day totals during the pandemic. In the last week, California has reported more than a quarter-million cases and 1,500 deaths.
"I'm not going to sugarcoat this. We are getting crushed," said Dr. Brad Spellberg, chief medical officer at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, which has more than 600 beds and is one of the largest in the county.
It's a scene playing out across California. According to state data Friday, all of Southern California and the 12-county San Joaquin Valley to the north had exhausted their regular intensive care unit capacity and some hospitals have begun using "surge" space.
Statewide, the available ICU capacity on Friday was a miniscule 2.1%.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country's top infectious-disease expert, discussed California's predicament during an event organized by the California State University system.
He warned that unless people curtail their holiday travels and gatherings, "it is very likely we're going to get what I call a surge upon a surge" that is particularly dangerous "in the state of California, which is just right at that cusp of getting overrun in some areas of the state."