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Some South Coast Hospitals Packed, But So Far Handling COVID-19 Surge

The COVID-19 impacts on hospitals on the Central and South Coasts has been big, but not as severe as on the emergency rooms in Southern California.

The hardest hit of the three counties in our region is Ventura County.  Ventura County Public Health officials say the situation isn’t as bad in the county as it is in LA or Orange Counties.

Still, hospitals are full, and ambulance wait times and emergency room waiting times in the county’s eight hospitals have increased.

The county is seeing the highest numbers of people in hospitals because of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.  The total did drop slightly since last week.

Health officials say the next few weeks are critical, because that’s when we could a holiday related surge on top of the steep increase which was already underway.

Lance Orozco has been News Director of KCLU since 2001, providing award-winning coverage of some of the biggest news events in the region, including the Thomas and Woolsey brush fires, the deadly Montecito debris flow, the Borderline Bar and Grill attack, and Ronald Reagan's funeral.