SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — Health care workers say San Diego County's recent spike in positive coronavirus cases is being felt hard right now in our hospitals. They report intensive care units filling up fast and say they fear things are about to get a lot worse.
“We are really strained,” said Michael Kennedy. “The nurses are strained. We're burnt out.”
Kennedy is a registered nurse working long hours in the ICU at UCSD. He said part of the problem is that other areas, like Imperial County, are so overwhelmed with coronavirus patients that their hospitals can't handle the load.
“They just don't have the hospital infrastructure, the health care infrastructure to deal with a large influx of patients,” Kennedy said. “So they transferred them out to hospitals here in San Diego and elsewhere.”
Imperial County has transferred 500 patients in about a two-week period with the majority coming to San Diego County.
They also say making a bad situation worse are San Diegans who aren't taking the pandemic seriously.
“We behaved as if everything was fine and everything was over, [as if] this pandemic is over and now we're suffering the consequences of that,” Kennedy said.
Particularly concerning to health care workers is the sight of San Diegans packing businesses, many not social distancing or wearing masks.
“This virus is very contagious,” said Dr. Andres Smith, Medical Director for Sharp Chula Vista's emergency department.
Dr. Smith believes the mass gatherings seen in San Diego explain a shift he’s noticing in the patients coming to his emergency room.
“Now we're seeing younger people coming in with symptoms - in their 20s and 30s. Before it was more in 50s and 60s," he said.
Dr. Smith said hospital staffs are a lot more efficient now than they were when the coronavirus first hit, but it’s still very stressful
“Nurses, doctors are burning out," he said.
Some health experts fear we're only a week or so away from our hospital ICUs being completely full. Michael Kennedy, who is also a union rep for the nurses association, hopes hospitals will stop elective surgeries again. He also asked San Diegans to do their part by staying home and wearing a mask when out.
“Your behavior outside the hospital is putting us in danger and if we're not there to care for you, you will die,” said Kennedy. “It's that simple. You will die if we're not there for you.”