Imperial County hospitals are at or near capacity with the current surge of COVID-19 patients.

El Centro Regional Medical Center has a licensed capacity of 161 beds , as of Friday morning there was an inpatient census of 165 patients. The El Centro hospital is able to utilize a 50-bed temporary medical / surgical ward set up in the north parking lot of the campus. Of the 165 patients 126 are infected with the coronavirus. There are no Intensive Care Unit beds available in the Valley at this time and overall there is a total of 174 COVID-19 positive patients between Pioneers and ECRMC. 

El Centro Regional Medical Center announced that frontline healthcare workers at the facility will begin receiving the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine Monday morning. The first shipment of the Pfizer vaccine arrived in the county on Thursday and is being distributed to local healthcare facilities by the Imperial County Public Health Department. According to Imperial County Public Health Department Director Janette Angulo , the county is expecting to receive a shipment of the Moderna vaccine shortly after the FDA approval. Vaccinations for frontline healthcare workers and others will be done according to State of California guidelines with the vaccine not expected to be available to the general public until Spring.