February 04, 2021

Why Some Hospitals Have To Scramble For Oxygen To Treat Covid-19 Patients-STAT

As Covid-19 cases began spiking last month, Mara Bryant and her hospital staff had to scramble to ensure enough oxygen was available. As the number of patients at Adventist Health White Memorial Hospital in Los Angeles reached 200 a day, the facility quickly began using six times its normal amount of oxygen. To cope, a 6,000-gallon tank was added as a backup to the usual 9,000-gallon tank, but finding that extra tank took two weeks. And once it was in place, it had to be refilled every day or two. The issue does not appear to have emerged in a widespread way outside of California. But if other hospitals were to face similarly overwhelming demand for oxygen, they could run into the same challenges. STAT, 02/04/2021