San Mateo County Adds New ICU Beds, Staff to Sequoia Hospital

San Mateo County has struck a deal to secure 10 new beds in the intensive care unit at Dignity Health's Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City, three of which became available Thursday.

This comes as the Bay Area region is hovering at 8.5% ICU bed capacity.

The deal is a $4.5 million investment by the county, and is being fulfilled by Dignity Health and AMI Expeditionary Healthcare.

Travis Kusman, director of emergency medical services for the county, said that while San Mateo has done better than other Bay Area counties overall when it comes to COVID-19 cases, there are still concerns that the area will see a post-holiday surge — like they did after Thanksgiving — that could overwhelm health care facilities.

"Those beds, in coordination with the county, will be used to address circumstances that arise within the Bay Area and broader mutual aid region to decompress hospitals that are overwhelmed by the number of patients that they're receiving," Kusman said.

As part of an agreement, each bed comes with licensed medical professional staffing for at least 30 days. According to the press release, the "first 5-bed unit is expected to be staffed within a week, with the second 5-bed unit available by the following week."

While Kusman says the additional beds likely won't help move the region out of its current risk level, every additional bed helps.

"That's one more patient that's being able to be treated in that environment, who represents really, unfortunately, the sickest of the sick with COVID-19," Kusman said.

— Michelle Wiley (@MichelleEWiley)