Coronavirus: California reactivates four alternative care sites for COVID-19 patients
Hours after Gov. Gavin Newsom said California had seen a 32% increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations over the last seven days, the state’s Office of Emergency Services announced four alternative care sites for coronavirus patients will be reactivated, including one in the Bay Area.
California will reactivate the Imperial Field Medical Site, the Fairview Developmental Center, the Porterville Developmental Center and Seton Medical Center immediately to expand capacity and support acute care specifically for COVID-19 patients.
Seton Medical Center, located in Daly City, already has 120 operational beds. The hospital’s capacity can be expanded to care for 220 COVID-19 patients.
Inmates who have fallen ill from COVID-19 at San Quentin Prison are among those who will receive treatment at Seton Medical Center, the governor said Monday. More than 1,000 inmates at the Marin County prison have tested positive for COVID-19; as of Saturday, five inmates had already been transferred, including three who went to the ICU.
According to data compiled by this news organization, the state surpassed 235,000 coronavirus cases Wednesday while California’s COVID-19 death toll climbed above 6,100.
The latest data released by the California Department of Public Health shows more than 5,000 COVID-19 patients are receiving care in hospitals, including more than 1,500 who are occupying intensive care unit beds. The CDPH data also shows nearly 1,400 people who are suspected to have COVID-19 are currently hospitalized in the state, including 223 in ICU beds.
Seton Medical Center began accepting COVID-19 patients on March 25 after the state leased 220 of the hospital’s 357 beds. On May 20, the Office of Emergency Services announced Seton Medical Center and the Los Angeles Surge Hospital were expected to “complete their work in supporting California’s COVID-19 response no later than June 30.”
At the time officials announced plans to stop accepting COVID-19 patients at Seton Medical Center, California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly, congratulated the state on its response to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Because of the great work of Californians across the state we have flattened the curve,” Ghaly said.
On April 2, more than a dozen nurses and front-line healthcare workers gathered outside of Seton Medical Center to hold a socially distant protest as they said they were in dire need of more masks and personal protective equipment.
In a release issued Wednesday, the Office of Emergency Services said all operational beds at alternative care sites “will be staffed by medical personnel, equipped with supplies and offer all necessary services.”
During a press briefing Tuesday, Newsom expressed confidence in Californians’ ability to again stop the spread of the disease in the state.
“We bent the curve in the state of California once,” Newsom said. “We will bend the curve again. Mark my words. We will crush this pandemic. We will annihilate it.”