Coronavirus: California hospitals at ‘brink of catastrophe’ as bodies pile up
- Morgues fill up, patient care falters as Covid-19 devastates hospitals
- The US death toll has passed 345,000, the highest in the world
One year after a mysterious pathogen first revealed itself in Wuhan, China, the Covid-19 pandemic enters 2021 with no signs of slowing down. Global daily deaths reached record highs this week, while US infections approached 20 million, twice as many as second-worst hit country India.
The US death toll also passed 345,000, the highest in the world.
The situation was dire in California which has surpassed 25,000 coronavirus deaths since the start of the pandemic. The grim milestone was reached on Thursday as an ongoing surge swamped hospitals and pushed nurses and doctors to the breaking point.
“We’re exhausted and it’s the calm before the storm,” said Jahmaal Willis, a nurse and emergency room leader at Providence St Mary Medical Centre in Apple Valley. “It’s like we’re fighting a war, a never-ending war, and we’re running out of ammo. We have to get it together before the next fight.”
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‘Every day we struggle’, doctors overwhelmed treating Covid-19 cases in hospitals around the world
Los Angeles County, where an average of six people die every hour from Covid-19, has had 40 per cent of the deaths in California, the third state to reach the 25,000 death count. New York has had nearly 38,000 deaths, and Texas has had more than 27,000, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
