The Orange County Health Care Agency has issued an order that forbids hospital emergency rooms from redirecting ambulances to other medical facilities. “This is not sustainable,” Carl Schultz, emergency medical services director for the Orange County Health Agency, said in a written statement. In an effort to help, the county said it would deploy mobile field hospitals, which help expand hospital capacity by adding additional beds to existing grounds. The field hospitals are housed in large, semi-type trailers that contain heavy-duty canvas tents with hard flooring, temperature-control, running water, toilets and showers, generators, lighting and air purifiers, the agency said. One medical professional at St. Jude told Orange County Supervisor Doug Chaffee that the hospital was reaching its limit.

Source: Los Angeles Times December 17, 2020 18:40 UTC