San Diego hospitals hit a weekly COVID high, but capacity is holding up

With 28 additional coronavirus hospitalizations listed in the county’s latest tracking report, San Diego just posted the largest weekly total of COVID-related admissions so far.

According to county records, there were 202 hospitalizations recorded across the region from Monday, Nov. 16, through Sunday, Nov. 22, eight more than the 194 that occurred in the final week of July, the previous high.

For the moment, the local health system seems to be handling the influx. COVID-related patients still make up only about 10 percent of heads in beds on a daily basis, and admissions unrelated to the virus dropped a bit over the weekend, causing the collective occupancy rate to drop to 71 percent, five percentage points lower than it was Friday.

Hospitals have been given significant discretion to manage their own admissions with the overall goal of keeping about 20 percent of local bed capacity free just in case a significant COVID surge suddenly appears.

In an email, Dimitrios Alexiou, president and chief executive of the Hospital Association of San Diego and Imperial Counties, reiterated a message that has become a mantra of health care executives throughout the pandemic.

“Hospital capacity continues to evolve, but beds are available ... staffing ultimately drives all of this,” Alexiou said.

Cases, though, continued to pile up. Given that about 3 percent of the newly-infected have required hospital admission in recent months, the recent string of 10 days with 700 or more new cases makes it clear that hospitals are likely to see higher counts for some time to come.

Monday’s report included 1,167 additional cases but zero new deaths. Because some of the offices that process death certificates are closed on the weekends, it is often the case that Monday’s report contains no COVID-related fatalities.

Business

Judge says no to letting San Diego County restaurants, gyms reopen indoors amid rise in coronavirus cases

Local businesses had filed suit seeking a temporary restraining order that would have overturned county and state orders that restaurants and gyms be limited to outdoor-only operations

Nov. 23, 2020

Local businesses were dealt a loss by a local judge Monday. San Diego Superior Court Judge Kenneth J. Medel denied a request for a temporary injunction that would have stopped the local health department from enforcing the outdoor operation mandates that came along with the county’s recent fall to the most restrictive, “purple” tier of the state’s four-level reopening system.

Last week, the county sheriff’s department announced it was allocating eight full-time deputies to travel with county health order enforcement teams and write citations for those who refuse to comply. So far, though, the rash of cease-and-desist orders issued last week does not appear to have turned into a sudden surge in the number of citations for businesses and other establishments.

A breakdown posted by the sheriff’s office Monday showed that deputies visited 15 locations on reports of health order-related “disturbances” and 33 reports of alleged violations from Friday through Sunday. Those visits generated just one citation.

That single citation compares with none issued in all of October. According to the sheriff’s department, the last time deputies wrote tickets for health order violations was September, when two were issued.

Additional details were not available Monday on whether Sheriff Bill Gore’s plan to field more full-time deputies for enforcement of public health order complaints has actually started in full force. But the prospect of enhanced scrutiny puts additional pressure on local businesses, especially restaurants, struggling with the outdoor operating requirements.

On Monday, county supervisors Greg Cox and Nathan Fletcher announced a $20 million effort to help those businesses that are struggling the most, with direct grants designed to help establishments make it through this winter of COVID discontent.

The board will consider the program during a special meeting scheduled for Wednesday at 2 p.m.

If approved, each of the region’s five supervisors would receive $4 million in general funds to allocate to impacted businesses in their districts.

The cash would be drawn from the county’s general fund. It would be in addition to business assistance efforts paid this year from $389 million in federal CARES Act funding that the county received. While the bulk of that cash has underwritten the county health department’s efforts to fight the pandemic, $27.5 million has already been allocated for assistance payments to small businesses, non-profits and restaurants.