Medics ordered to ration oxygen as COVID-19 overwhelms Los Angeles hospitals

Los Angeles, January 5 (RHC)-- Two thousand seven hundred Americans were hospitalized with COVID-19 on Monday — a single-day record — as the United States reported nearly 200,000 new coronavirus cases and more than 2,000 deaths. 

In Los Angeles, ambulance crews have been ordered to ration oxygen, with EMTs told not to transport patients who show little chance of survival.  ICUs in many Southern California hospitals are effectively full, with COVID patients spilling into hallways.  

COVID-19 is now a leading cause of death in the United States, with one person dying of the disease every 33 seconds.

Amid the post-holiday surge, President Trump accused the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of greatly exaggerating the U.S. death toll — which now stands at over 353,000.  Top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci fired back on ABC News.

Dr. Anthony Fauci: “The deaths are real deaths.  I mean, all you need to do is to go out into the trenches, go to the hospitals, see what the healthcare workers are dealing with.  They are under very stressed situations.  In many areas of the country, the hospital beds are stretched.  People are running out of beds, running out of trained personnel, who are exhausted right now.  That’s real.  That’s not fake.”

California reported more cases of a new coronavirus variant that many public health experts believe is even more contagious.  It was also detected in New York for the first time, adding to fears it has already spread far and wide across the United States.