NPR

As COVID-19 Cases Soar, Overwhelmed California Hospitals Worry About Rationing Care

As intensive care units hit capacity, hospitals across the state are being forced to consider that they may not be able to provide critical care for everyone who needs it.
Physicians and nurses wear personal protective equipment while they attend to a COVID-19 patient in the ICU at Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center in Tarzana, Calif. on December 18, 2020.

California hospitals are stretched to their limits as intensive care units fill up and COVID-19 cases continue to soar, leaving some facilities facing the prospect of not being able to provide critical care for everyone who needs it.

On Friday, the nation's most populous state recorded 43,608 new cases, while almost 17,400 people are currently hospitalized with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 cases, according to the . Over 3,500 of those cases are being treated in intensive care units, putting immense strain

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