Hospital staff and intensive care unit (ICU) operations in Orange County are preparing to handle the ongoing “Thanksgiving surge” in positive COVID-19 cases that officials say is currently taking place throughout Southern California.

Dr. Philip Robinson, the director of infection prevention at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, told The Epoch Times that his hospitals in Newport Beach and Irvine are prepared.

“Although we are experiencing a COVID surge as all hospitals are, we currently have capacity at both hospitals,” Robinson said in an email. “Many of the COVID positive patients we are seeing now had gathered with people outside their household during the Thanksgiving holiday.”