LA County still faces record numbers of coronavirus numbers, with one person dying every 10 minutes from COVID-19 complications.
“More people than ever are dying,” county supervisor Hilda Solis told a news conference. “148 people died of COVID-19 just on Christmas Eve. These are numbers that cannot be normalized and are difficult to understand.”
HOSPITAL EMERGENCY
Currently, 6,914 people are hospitalized with COVID-19; 20% of them are in the ICU. This is the largest number of people hospitalized with the virus in LA County since the pandemic began.
From November 9 to December 26, daily hospitalizations for patients with COVID-19 increased by 674%.
Hospitals are now treating patients in spaces such as conference rooms or gift shops, said LA County Health Director Barbara Ferrer. This caused at least five county hospitals to go into internal disaster mode on Sunday, a designation in which the hospital closes for emergency vehicle traffic, including ambulances.
Due to staff shortages, the county’s hospital system has failed to bring in more traveling nurses, which they would normally do in a situation like this. Instead, the county has deployed a large number of outpatient nurses to work in inpatient units and emergency departments.
The vast majority of non-essential surgeries and procedures have been postponed, said Ferrer.
“It is one thing to have an outbreak when the team is well, when it is rested, when the number of patients is stable,” said Ferrer. “It is a very, very different and infinitely more dangerous situation to have hospitals going through an outbreak when the team is exhausted. They are overloaded and are already taking care of more patients than they can handle safely.”
DEATHS AND CASE COUNTS ARE ALSO INCREASING
The county is now averaging about 13,000 cases a day, with 13,661 registered today.
Ferrer said the transmission rate in the community remains extraordinarily high. (Now it has risen to 15%; for context, that rate was 4% on November 1). She said these numbers continue to impact the health care system.
At least 73 people in LA County have died of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. Ferrer said another 432 people died over the weekend – a figure that “reflects the delay in reports associated with the Spectrum outage and the holiday.” The county is in the final stage of confirming that number.
The total death toll in LA County is now 9,555, close to breaking the 10,000 barrier.
“We continue to experience the alarming increase in new cases,” said Ferrer. “From November 1, when this current outbreak began, until December 22, the daily number of cases increased by 965%.”
ANOTHER PLEA TO AVOID MEETING OUTSIDE HIS FAMILY IN THIS HOLIDAY SEASON
We don’t yet know the effects of holiday gatherings – we will have to wait two to three weeks for the data due to the virus’s incubation period, so Solis said the worst could be yet to come.
“The situation we are facing today is very alarming. And frankly, the alarm went off a month ago, but people did not heed that warning,” said Solis, adding that she understands that people are frustrated and want to see their families. right now, but doing it safely is almost impossible, especially when the test is not a card to get out of prison:
“After a meeting, it doesn’t mean you’re free. These quick tests of COVID-19, which so many people depend on, aren’t always accurate, but people are still meeting in each other’s homes, traveling by plane and by car … thinking that this crisis is something that will not affect them … a COVID test can release you to a flight, but it does not exempt you from becoming infected and bringing the virus back to other people in your home . “
Solis added that traveling by car is also not safe, if you have passengers outside your immediate home:
“The Automobile Club of California predicted that 5.7 million Southern Californians traveled by car from December 23 to January 3. That means, frankly, at this point, that we really have to make some dramatic changes if we are to bring this virus down. “
Ferrer repeated Solis: “What we learned on Thanksgiving Day applies now. Living with people outside your home is one of the main causes of the current increase. One unfortunate encounter with an individual with COVID-19 is enough for you to become infected. . And, unfortunately, for you to continue and infect many others. “
The state is advising a 10-day self-quarantine after the trip, in addition to monitoring for any symptoms of illness during the full 14 days of virus incubation.
Solis said the county is investigating law enforcement if the public continues to ignore the warnings. She said county officials are also looking at the effect of opening retail to 20% of capacity.
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