Riverside County Health Officials warn of steady increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations

COVID-19 testing in our county has increased as more people continue to get tested. 

“I wanted to be part of the negativity group just make sure that they get more negative tests so that we keep things open,”said Judy Cox.  

There were lines of people at the Palm Springs Convention Center compelled to do their part in trying to keep the positive case numbers down.

“We need to get the numbers down and i think they’ll come down as more people get tested," said Joe Purpura.

“And thats what the county is saying if more people get tested and get a true fix on the number of positives," said George Tuttle. "Let’s get alot of people here testing.” 

Now with high tests volume, Riverside County has finally reached the state’s required benchmark for COVID-19 testing.

But hospitalization numbers are the concern. 

“Last month, hospitalizations have gone up from, let's say less than 152 right now it's about 212," said Jose Arballo Jr. Riverside County Senior Public Information Specialist. "That number seems large when you compare it to a month ago, but it's been a steady increase.” 

The county has now reported 60 hospitalizations since October 30th and 16 additional patients in the past 24 hours. 

“We have had an increase in hospitalizations let say over the last month, which is somewhat alarming, but our capacity for ICU beds and overall beds is well within the capacity of our hospitals," said Arballo.

We checked with our local hospitals. A spokesperson for Desert Care Network told us they have 12 people hospitalized. 

Eisenhower Health on other hand has noticed. 

“Seen a slight increase, but not a huge jump we've had maybe between 10 and 15 patients in the hospital at any given time," said Euthym Kontaxis, M.D. Tennity Emergency Department at Eisenhower Health. "Total patients  anywhere between one and three in the intensive care unit .”