Running out of space, hospitals in California are setting up tents and trailers to take in patients

• With an overflow of patients with COVID-19, California hospitals are hastily building field hospitals outside their facilities.
• According to the COVID Tracking Project, California has seen a 19.4% increase in confirmed cases over the past week — Monday alone recorded more than 37,000 new cases.
• KCAL reported that Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and UC Irvine will add 50 more beds in mobile units "equipped with running water, lighting and air purifiers."

Overwhelmed with a surge in cases of the novel coronavirus, California is setting up tents and trailers to use as field hospitals to take in more patients.

According to the COVID Tracking Project, California has seen a 19.4% increase in confirmed cases over the past week - Monday alone recorded more than 37,000 new cases. As of Tuesday, California has recorded more than 1.9 million cases of the coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Earlier this month, California put in place a "mass fatality" program for situations when there are "more deaths in a given time period than the local coroner or medical emergency personnel could handle," Business Insider's Sarah Al-Arshani reported.

KCAL reported that Fountain Valley Regional Hospital and UC Irvine will add 50 more beds in mobile units "equipped with running water, lighting and air purifiers."

The Los Angeles Times reported that in Fresno County, only 16 ICU beds were free as of Monday, so they will open another site with 50 beds this week.

On Monday, the California Department of Public Health reported both San Joaquin Valley and Southern California are at 0% ICU capacity.

—CA Public Health (@CAPublicHealth) December 21, 2020

• Read more:
• California activates 'mass fatality' program to coordinate aid across agencies as COVID-19 cases and deaths soar
• Apple is closing its 53 California stores through Christmas, as COVID-19 cases soar to record highs
• California is taking dramatic steps to slow down COVID-19 infection rates as the state surpasses 1 million cases of the virus
• California, hailed for its early coronavirus response, now has the US's highest case total. Here's what went wrong.