Hospitals Say California Officials Too Slow In Virus Crisis

LOS ANGELES (AP) – California reported its second-highest number of daily coronavirus deaths Wednesday with 459 lives lost. That brings the death toll to 2,504 in the last week as more than a quarter-million newly reported weekly cases portended a continued overwhelming crush on hospitals. The California Hospital Association says Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration should immediately remove bureaucratic red tape that is hobbling medical workers. It says the state should begin coordinating patient care at a statewide level. State officials did not immediately respond to the criticism of their ban on certain elective surgeries in the hardest hit hospitals and requirement that hospitals accept patients from others that have exhausted their intensive care beds.