South Bay Hospital Hits ICU Bed Limit: Report

GILROY, CA — A Gilroy hospital has maxed out its ICU capacity and is now sending patients to surge beds amid the escalating coronavirus crisis, KTVU reports.

Saint Louise Regional Hospital’s grim announcement came during a press conference Monday in which Santa Clara County officials implored the public to adhere to stay-at-home orders over the holidays as the explosion of COVID-19 cases threatens to push an already overwhelmed health care system past its breaking point.

As of Monday, there were just 29 available ICU beds in all of Santa Clara County, which has a population of 1.9 million.

"If we go beyond the surge capacity, everyone will be affected," hospital executive Gloria de la Merced said Monday according to the report.

"More people in our community will know someone who died or who was seriously ill."

The COVID-19 crisis has disproportionately impacted Latinx communities in the southern Santa Clara County in communities such as Gilroy, officials said according to the report.

The county’s Latinx community represents just 25 percent of the county’s population but accounts for 52 percent of its infections, the report said.

"We know that COVID-19 is affecting our Latinx and immigrant communities at a much higher rate in cases and deaths," Morgan Hill Councilmember Yvonne Martínez Beltrán said Monday according to the report.

"We are worried and must lower our risk."

Read more at KTVU