No room at the ICU: Hospital beds fill as COVID remains widespread
Pima County intensive care unit beds are shrinking in availability as COVID hospitalizations remain high.
Pima County Health Department Director Dr. Theresa Cullen reported that only eight ICU beds were available countywide during a Dec. 1 press conference.
“We’ve had less than 5% ICU bed availability for the past 42 days,” Cullen said.
Epidemiologist Dr. Joe Gerald, a professor in the UA Zuckerman School of Public Health who has been tracking COVID cases since the virus first arrived in Arizona, reported that as of Dec. 1, 31% of Arizona’s general ward beds were occupied by COVID-19 patients, a 5% increase from the previous week. Gerald also reported only 5% of Arizona’s general ward beds remained available for use, which he called “a new all-time low.”
Read more: https://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/no-room-at-the-icu-hospital-beds-fill-as-covid-remains-widespread/Content?oid=31668607