COVID Infection Concerns Rise As Holiday Travelers Return Home Through SMF
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – People returned home through Sacramento International Airport from places all across the country as the Thanksgiving holiday weekend came to an end – drawing concern as cases continue to rise at a rapid rate across the state.
Jayceen Chin-Hau spent the long Thanksgiving weekend with family despite warnings from the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention that further spread of COVID-19, will overwhelm the healthcare system.
"I actually went back to Seattle," Chin-Hau said.
Dr. Kamara Graham is the director of the emergency department at Rideout Memorial Hospital in Marysville, which serves Yuba and Sutter counties.
"We are really concerned over the next several weeks about these numbers going up," Graham said.
Sutter County leads the state with the highest COVID-19 positivity rate. Yuba County is third in the state. The combination has left the hospital to care for 39 coronavirus patients. There are no more ICU beds available.
California counties of all sizes are already slammed by COVID cases, now as people return from Thanksgiving travel.
What kind of trouble is ahead?
The Yuba and Sutter public health spokesperson said Rideout Memorial Hospital is now doubling COVID patients up "two-to-a-room" so they can free up a second floor for the next wave of coronavirus hospitalizations.
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