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Seriously Ill COVID-19 Imperial Valley Residents Moved To San Francisco Bay Area Hospitals

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Seriously ill COVID-19 patients from Imperial Valley were being treated early Monday in two major San Francisco Bay Area hospitals after an outbreak of the virus has overwhelmed medical facilities along the California-Mexico border.

In emails to KPIX 5, officials at both UC-San Francisco and Stanford confirmed patients have been transferred to their hospitals from border communities.

UCSF spokeman Scott Maier confirmed that their facilites were treating "three COVID patients from Imperial County in Southern California." Meanwhile, Stanford Medical officials also confirmed patients have been transferred.

"As the only Level 1 trauma center between San Jose and San Francisco, Stanford Health Care routinely receives patients in transfer based on their medical need and when Stanford is able to provide unique treatment for high-acuity patients," officials said in an email. "Stanford Health Care has received a small number of COVID-19 patients in transfer from counties outside the Bay Area. This has included but is not limited to Imperial County."

Imperial Valley officials said several hundred patients have been transferred to facilities across the state after their hospitals have become overwhelmed by a surge in COVID-19 cases.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has ordered officials to put back into place the strict March COVID-19 restrictions until they bring the outbreak under control.

As of last week, Imperial County with a population of about 180,000 had about 6,200 cases among 30,700 tested, a positive rate of about 20%. Health experts largely agree that cross-border traffic with Mexicali is at least partly to blame for a surge since the middle of May.

"The constant coming and going across the border" contributed to the outbreak, along with multi-generation families in the same household and other cultural and personal behavior, Janette Angulo, the county's public health director, said at a state Senate hearing.

The county "is largely invisible and forgotten as a region," but it has gained widespread attention for its "grave situation" with the pandemic, Angulo said.

More than 500 coronavirus patients have been transferred to hospitals outside the region in the last couple weeks, Angulo said.

Mexicali, a sprawling city of 1 million people with factories that churn out aerospace parts, medical devices and other products for export to the U.S., has taken its own measures against the virus. Last weekend, the city established at checkpoint to make sure motorists entering from the U.S. were asymptomatic, had facial coverings and were coming for essential business.

Mexicali officials told U.S. authorities they will inspect vehicles every Thursday through Sunday for signs of the virus until the number of cases subside. They are also taking temperatures and allowing no more than two people per car.

Mexicali, with 4,844 cases and 837 deaths, is among the hardest-hit parts of Mexico.

"Calexico in the past has been known as the cocaine, drug corridor into the U.S.," said Calexico Police Chief Gonzalo Gerardo. "Now I call it the COVID corridor because we do have a lot of people coming across who are COVID-positive."

Imperial Valley, which provides much of the lettuce, carrots and other vegetables for U.S. supermarkets during winter, is deeply intertwined with Mexicali. Many workers who pick crops come from Mexicali and begin standing in line at 2 a.m. daily to cross into the U.S. for their shifts.

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