As the South Bay topped 1,000 coronavirus cases Thursday, Santa Clara County launched a new program that gives a real-time look at how many hospital beds are still available.
It’s difficult to see the conditions inside hospitals unless you’re a patient, but county leaders say they believe that, no matter what the numbers show, people would rather know. So, the county’s health department posted a new “data dashboard” that displays total case numbers, how many people are being tested, the number of hospital beds being used and the number still available.
“If I were at home, I’d want to know this information and that’s why we’re making it public,” said Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez.
The site also breaks it down by percentage. Even though 198 COVID-19 patients are hospitalized there are still 53% of beds available in acute care and 30% available in the ICU.
Right now, Santa Clara County is the only Bay Area county providing this data.
“We want the public to be confident we are doing everything we can to be ready,” said David Campos, Santa Clara County Deputy Executive.
San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin is now urging health officials and Mayor London Breed to release the same stats in the city.
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“This information should be shared with the public every single day,” Peskin said.
“I think this will actually build trust, reduce fear, and there’s no reason that the government should not be sharing this,” he said.
To view the Santa Clara County website, click here.
