As the city of Los Angeles has become the epicenter of COVID-19 in the United States and the number of cases and deaths continues to increase, the Los Angeles Department of Public Health started a Twitter campaign on Thursday to highlight the fact that someone in LA County dies every ten minutes from the virus.
The Los Angeles Department of Public Health is using the hashtag # Every10Minutes, making a powerful and emotional plea for people to stay home on New Year’s Eve. “Decrease the spread,” tweets also say. “Save a life.”
The coronavirus pandemic has infected more than 19.4 million people in the United States and more than 343,000 people have died of COVID-19 complications so far. President-elect Joe Biden said on Tuesday: “Things are going to get worse before it gets better.”
On Wednesday, Los Angeles to hit the somber milestone of 10,000 confirmed deaths from COVID-19
Los Angeles was specifically hit by the latest outbreak of COVID-19, with the LA Times reporting that hospitals are so overloaded that they are refusing ambulances and placing patients in gift shops while waiting for hospital beds to become available.
“No one would believe this is in the United States,” Scott Byington, an intensive care nurse at St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, told the LA Times. “Everyone is doing what they can. It is not that someone is relaxing. It’s just too overwhelming for everyone. “
California Health and Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly said at a news conference on Tuesday that LA is “extending many of our hospitals too far”.
“But we know that this stretch has a limit before it breaks, before pushing them into a situation where they are making the kind of resource and team decisions I just looked at,” said Ghaly.
The LA Department of Public Health did not immediately respond to BuzzFeed News’s request for comment. Their The Twitter account continues to share descriptions of real people behind the COVID deaths in the county.
“A driver who shares a ride with water and gum in the back seat.”
“A friend you haven’t spoken to since high school.”
“An abuelita who always tried to feed her grandchildren, even when they said they weren’t hungry.”
Each tweet also includes the call to “stay home tonight. Decrease the spread. Save a life.”