California Healthline senior correspondent Anna Maria Barry-Jester appeared on KALW’s “Your Call” on Friday to discuss how hospitals are preparing for a surge in COVID-19 patients.
Dr. Mark Ghaly, the state’s secretary of Health and Human Services, said on Wednesday that COVID-19 cases in California continued to double every three to four days ― a pace on par with New York, where some hospitals are already overwhelmed by coronavirus patients.
As of Friday afternoon, the number of coronavirus cases in California topped 4,000 and at least 85 people had died.
Hospitals have been shifting patients with less urgent medical needs to other facilities to free up beds and working to boost supplies of personal protective equipment for medical staff, but still face shortages of both.
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