Shasta County hospitalizations have more than tripled in the past few days.
Shasta County Public Health says this means more people are getting sick from coronavirus.
Hospitalizations has more than tripled in in the past few days... action news now reporter ana torrea is live in redding -- ana how are our hospitals handling this surge in patients?
Shasta county public health says right now hospitals are not at capacity.
*take so* trt:03 kerri schuette shasta health & human services agency spokesperson we are definitely concerned that diseases continue to spread in our community.
Hospitalization numbers tripling in shasta county over the past 3 days.
Take so* trt:08 kerri schuette shasta health & human services agency spokesperson the disease has not gone anywhere, it is still very much here as you can tell from the increase in cases and the increase in hospitalizations shasta county public health says hospitals are handling the surge and aren't setting up alternative care sites yet.
Which means there is no need for an alternative care site just yet.
Take so* trt:10 kerri schuette shasta health & human services agency spokesperson we do continue to make plans for standing up an alternative care site should the need arise, but right now that need has not yet arisen.
Mercy medical center is implementing it's surge capacity plan.
Take so* trt: 13 kenneth luke director for security and emergency management, mercy medical center we have isolated all the postive covid patients onto one floor and we are keeping them away from all of our other staff, we're trying to keep the same staff members caring for those people so we can limit exposure ana stand u* trt:09 ana torrea atorreanews mercy medical center tells me it can handle the surge in patients but people i spoke to tell me that the numbers are still a concern.
Take so* trt:06 debbie stokes lives in anderson i think everybody should be a little bit more concerned over the past week or so with the rising numbers and i think people should be more careful.
((butt to)) take so* trt:04 alison krupit lives in redding even if they're not yet overwhelmed the stress levels must be rising.
For now shasta county public health continuing to urge people to wear masks... take so* trt:07 kerri schuette shasta health & human services agency spokesperson it's really important that people continue to wear those cloth face coverings when they're in public, washing their hands, stay home when they're sick and practice social distancing.
Mercy medical is also again tightening up visitor restrictions - screening everyone coming in and out of the hospital.
And for not elective for mercy medical have not yet been cancelled.
Reporting in redding, ana torrea, action news now coverage you can count on action news now also reached out to shasta community health center: the health center tells us: it believes it can handle an increase in patients and even repurposed one of its buildings to handle large testing groups.
Emergency
Public health officials say that a 65-year-old man passed away at a Portland hospital over the weekend.
