On Friday, the office of California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom announced that officials had teamed with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to update oxygen-delivery systems at six Los Angeles County hospitals.
The move comes as the Los Angeles Times reports “the dreaded post-Christmas spike in coronavirus cases appears to be materializing” in America’s most populated county, and ICU capacity in the Southern California region reportedly remains fixed at 0%. According to the Times, “hospitals have gotten so backed up that patients have had to wait outside in ambulances for up to eight hours.”
“By working to upgrade challenged oxygen delivery systems at these older hospitals we can improve the ability to deliver life-sustaining medical care to those who need it,” said Mark Ghilarducci, director of the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.
The Army Corps of Engineers works to strengthen national security by, in part, building and maintaining infrastructure. The federal agency would begin to assess the situation as
