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and they still are
Posted on: December 21, 2020 at 11:36:37 CT
Spanky KU
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additionally, the ICU bed availability statistics are manipulated
https://www.ocregister.com/2020/12/18/what-public-health-leaders-mean-by-0-icu-beds-available/
Intensive care bed availability in Southern California has been reported at 0% capacity by state and county health officials. But that alarming figure carries a big asterisk: it doesn’t mean there are no open ICU beds that day.
In the context of the coronavirus pandemic’s bleakest chapter, the state Department of Public Health’s front-and-center metric, “current ICU capacity by region,” takes the actual percentage of remaining adult ICU beds each day and tweaks it to reflect the lopsided share of COVID-19 patients in intensive care compared to others who also need those beds for life-saving treatment and equipment, such as ventilators....
...As intensive care units fill with coronavirus patients like never before, the state’s calculation hinges on an ideal that no more than a third of a region’s intensive care patients have COVID-19. If more than 30% of ICU beds are in use by COVID-19 patients in a county, or the region as a whole, it’s reported available ICU capacity is reduced by half a percentage point for each percentage point over that threshold.
For example, 9.2% of Orange County’s staffed adult ICU beds were available by Friday, Dec. 18, according to the OC Health Care Agency. But because 57% of the county’s 628 active ICU beds were taken by coronavirus patients – well above the state’s 30% limit – Orange County’s capacity was downgraded to 0%.
An absolute zero might give the wrong impression, because Orange County’s ICUs still had a meager 59 vacant adult beds, according to a county report.
“When you see 0%, that doesn’t mean there’s no capacity, no one’s allowed into an ICU,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Friday. “It means we’re now in our surge phase, which is about 20% additional capacity that we can make available through the ICU system.”
https://www.ocregister.com/2020/12/18/what-public-health-leaders-mean-by-0-icu-beds-available/
Intensive care bed availability in Southern California has been reported at 0% capacity by state and county health officials. But that alarming figure carries a big asterisk: it doesn’t mean there are no open ICU beds that day.
In the context of the coronavirus pandemic’s bleakest chapter, the state Department of Public Health’s front-and-center metric, “current ICU capacity by region,” takes the actual percentage of remaining adult ICU beds each day and tweaks it to reflect the lopsided share of COVID-19 patients in intensive care compared to others who also need those beds for life-saving treatment and equipment, such as ventilators....
...As intensive care units fill with coronavirus patients like never before, the state’s calculation hinges on an ideal that no more than a third of a region’s intensive care patients have COVID-19. If more than 30% of ICU beds are in use by COVID-19 patients in a county, or the region as a whole, it’s reported available ICU capacity is reduced by half a percentage point for each percentage point over that threshold.
For example, 9.2% of Orange County’s staffed adult ICU beds were available by Friday, Dec. 18, according to the OC Health Care Agency. But because 57% of the county’s 628 active ICU beds were taken by coronavirus patients – well above the state’s 30% limit – Orange County’s capacity was downgraded to 0%.
An absolute zero might give the wrong impression, because Orange County’s ICUs still had a meager 59 vacant adult beds, according to a county report.
“When you see 0%, that doesn’t mean there’s no capacity, no one’s allowed into an ICU,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Friday. “It means we’re now in our surge phase, which is about 20% additional capacity that we can make available through the ICU system.”
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and they still are - Spanky KU - 12/21 11:36:37