OROVILLE, Calif. - The Oroville Hospital is doing all they can to stay prepared for the current surge in coronavirus cases.
Doctor Roy Shannon said they are seeing more COVID-19 cases every day and performing more than 200 tests.
Shannon said all 12 of the hospitals isolation rooms are filled with Coronavirus patients. .
Despite the growing numbers of patients and uncertainty of testing availability shannon says the most challenging part is protecting medical staff.
"One of the biggest challenges is to make sure we keep our staff safe and we are working all the time on that," said Shannon. "We have added face shields, and we have had face masks mandatory for a long time. we do a lot of extra cleaning and use this ultra violet machine and we are actually getting another one."
Shannon said when a staff member gets sick, they can't work for 10 days and must get tested frequently when returning to work.
He said finding someone to work for them while they're out has been a struggle.
Right now, the hospital is able to handle the current capacity but what is in place as we get into the holidays?
Shannon said the week of Dec. 7 is when we could see a big spike in cases.
"Cause that would be 10 or 11 days after Thanksgiving and that is where you would expect the peak of infections that people have gotten and infected over Thanksgiving," said Shannon. "We are going to worry about it."