(CNN) Oxygen supply issues led at least five Los Angeles County hospitals to declare an "internal disaster" Sunday, which included turning patients away. There are multiple issues involving oxygen delivery to patients, but generally the problem is not an absolute shortage of oxygen, according to Dr. Christina Ghaly, Los Angeles County Health Services director. Instead, at some area hospitals, aging infrastructure that pumps oxygen to patient rooms is unable to keep up with the high number of patients needing oxygen. "They're not able to maintain the pressure in the pipe to maintain oxygen delivery at that high level of pressure that's required to be delivered through the high-flow oxygen delivery vehicles," Ghaly said. The oxygen issues come as Los Angeles County sees a near-overwhelming surge of Covid-19 patients taking nearly every hospital to capacity.

Source: CNN December 29, 2020 20:03 UTC