LOS ANGELES (AP) - California's health care system is buckling under the strain of the nation's largest coronavirus outbreak and authorities say it may fracture in weeks if people ignore holiday social distancing.
Top executives from the state's largest hospital systems said Tuesday that increasingly exhausted staff are now attending to COVID-19 patients stacked up in hallways and conference rooms.
California is closing in on 2 million confirmed cases of COVID-19. The state on Tuesday reported nearly 32,700 newly confirmed cases.
Nearly 700 more patients were admitted to hospitals - one of the biggest one-day hospitalization jumps.
Authorities blame the surge on people ignoring social distancing rules for Thanksgiving and they're begging people to be safe for Christmas.