Top 10,000 Covid deaths in LA; “Excess of hospital bodies” – Term

Top 10,000 Covid deaths in LA; “Excess of hospital bodies” – Term

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On the same day that California reported by far the highest number of deaths since the pandemic began, Los Angeles County public health director Barbara Ferrer said that LA had crossed its own dark threshold. On Wednesday, the county crossed 10,000 lives lost to Covid-19 since the pandemic began.

Specifically, Los Angeles County recorded 274 deaths from the virus in the previous 24 hours, for a total of 10,056.

The average number of daily deaths in 14 days from the virus, according to Ferrer, was around 150. This is “almost equal to the number of deaths from all other causes, which is about 170,” said Ferrer.

Furthermore, “The impact of this sudden increase is overwhelming our hospitals and increasing deaths”. The percentage of patients infected with Covid who are now sent to the ICU increased from 20% last week to 26% on Wednesday. Therefore, it is not just the virus that is proving fatal, but also the nightmare scenario of Angelenos dying because they cannot receive adequate care from overworked ICUs.

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“Some patients are waiting in ambulances because there is no space,” said Los Angeles County supervisor Hilda Solis, before revealing that, “our coroner is receiving many bodies from hospitals that cannot store them.”

Given the amount of travel and mixing that probably happened during the holidays, said Ferrer, “we need to be prepared for an increase beyond that increase.”

Furthermore, at the beginning of a conversation with Dr. Anthony Fauci on Wednesday, California Governor Gavin Newsom revealed that the supposedly more infectious new strain of Covid-19 first identified in the United Kingdom was found in California, specifically in Southern California.

Newsom said he was informed “about an hour ago” that the new strain was found in the state. Although the variation is much more infectious, it does not appear to be more deadly on a case-by-case basis, according to experts. Fauci said he was not surprised that there was a case “and probably more cases in California”.

That, in addition to the spills and deaths described by LA County health officials, paints a very bleak picture of the coming weeks in LA

“Many morgues across the county are filling up and they are having trouble trying to make space,” said Dr. Christina Ghaly, who oversees the county’s four hospitals. “This is causing a backup of bodies at various facilities across the county.” Ghaly said the county is “working with these facilities to try to find alternatives to store these bodies”.

Ghaly said the LA County morgue, which she oversees, had “386 openings late yesterday.” The problem, she said, was with “private hospitals that are facing problems with backing up bodies due to the mortuaries’ overcapacity.” The county coroner took on that ability – or lack thereof.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said that a few weeks ago, Cedars-Sinai had two floors dedicated to patients at Covid-19. On Wednesday, the hospital had eight floors occupied by patients with viruses.

In terms of patients waiting in ambulances for beds to open, Ghaly said, “There have been some unfortunate results for patients who could not be discharged to hospitals in a timely manner.” When asked about details, she did not provide them.

Also on Wednesday, the municipality registered 10,392 new cases. The lower number of new daily cases is likely due to the fact that the test centers were closed over Christmas, Ferrer said.

“There is a lot of dissemination in the community, and it makes it easier for the virus to continue spreading,” said Ferrer earlier this week. “So we will all have to do everything we know to contain the virus.”

“Please don’t leave your house to celebrate the New Year. If we don’t, the beginning of 2021 will be worse than the end of 2020, ”said Dr. Ghaly.

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