SLO County’s total number of ICU beds just dropped by 15. Here’s why
San Luis Obispo County hospitals have 15 fewer intensive care unit beds than previously reported, after taking staffing levels into account, public health officials announced on Monday.
The San Luis Obispo County Public Health Department said there are 38 total ICU beds at hospitals throughout the county — down from the 53 beds officials had long used in the county’s datasets, according to a news release.
There are now 13 patients receiving treatment in local ICUs, meaning the county is currently at 66% capacity.
Until Monday, public health officials had based their number on licensed ICU beds, although local hospital leaders have been saying for nearly a month this number did not take staffing levels into account and that coronavirus hospitalizations were straining resources.
“After consulting with local hospitals, county officials adjusted the total ICU beds metric from 53 total licensed ICU beds to show 38 licensed and staffed ICU beds,” the release said. “Previously, it included all licensed beds regardless of whether they could be staffed.”
The county’s ICU bed capacity has been called into question as the coronavirus pandemic continues to surge throughout the area. The Public Health Department reported 844 new coronavirus cases during the weekend and on Monday. The county added about 40% of its COVID-19 cases in December, alone.
The county is currently under a stay-at-home order in place for the entire Southern California region.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s order, which went into effect Dec. 6, divides the state into regions and imposes tight business restrictions on those with ICU capacities under 15%. The Southern California region, which includes San Luis Obispo County, had a cumulative ICU capacity of 0%, as of Monday.
SLO County hospital leader ‘concerned’ about ICU capacity
Mark Soll, French Hospital ICU director, in December disputed the county’s 53-bed ICU capacity, saying hospitals could adequately staff only 35 to 38 beds before going into emergency staffing mode.
“There’s been a bit of a disconnect of how serious this is,” Soll told The Tribune in December. “It’s not like we can snap our fingers and say, ‘Get us six nurses.’ ”
On Monday, Soll said the 53-bed capacity “was always a naive number.” The 38-bed number the county public health officials are now using “much better reflects our standard operating capacity,” he said.
“I’m glad that they’re now posting a more realistic number,” Soll said.
If the surge in local coronavirus cases continues, hospitals can add beds if they need to, he said, but they would need to make more room and the level of care may not be the same.
“It’s hard to make that live up to the standards we’ve come to expect,” Soll said.
The increase in coronavirus cases following the holidays stretched hospitals to the limit, and leaders are still expecting a post-New Year’s Day surge, Soll said.
There are also ongoing COVID-19 outbreaks at locations throughout the county — including California Men’s Colony state prison in San Luis Obispo, which has the most coronavirus cases of any state prison.
If a large number of CMC inmates and nursing home patients require ICU care, that could quickly eat up the county’s capacity, Soll said.
He said it’s frustrating to continue to see people gathering, adding that business leaders and county supervisors who want to sue the state to get out of the Southern California region “just don’t get it.”
“We remain concerned,” he said. “The bottom line is, we’re doing OK, but we have limited capacity in reserve.”
