Public health officials announced 13,756 new COVID-19 cases and 60 more deaths on Saturday as Los Angeles County exceeded a milestone of 600,000 cases, but also had to adjust the department’s security policy regarding places of worship to account for recent rulings of the Supreme Court.
To date, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has reported 610,372 positive COVID-19 cases and a total of 8,817 coronavirus-related deaths.
As of December 11, the province reached 500,000 cases and more than 100,000 new cases have since been reported – the fastest acceleration of new cases during the pandemic.
The Los Angeles County health official’s decision was amended Saturday to be consistent with recent Supreme Court rulings for places of worship. The court ruled that such places may offer faith-based services both indoors and outdoors with mandatory physical distance and face covering over both the nose and mouth to be worn on site at all times. The turnout should not exceed the number of people that can be accommodated while maintaining a physical distance of 1.8 meters between individual households.
Public health has strongly recommended that places of worship remain out of services, with physical distance and face cover to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
If there’s one light on the horizon, it’s that Pfizer’s initial vaccination allotment is currently being used by acute care hospitals to vaccinate primary care personnel. A second portion of the Pfizer vaccine is expected to arrive next week and will be used to inoculate additional health workers in acute care hospitals, Public Health announced.
“While we now see the light at the end of the tunnel, we have not yet reached the light,” says Dr. Brad Spellberg, chief medical officer at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center. “The pandemic will continue for many, many months after we begin vaccinating people. Now is not the time to ignore public health advice and recommendations. Our hospitals are seriously overcrowded in LA County.
LA County is now on track to become the epicenter of the pandemic, he said. “We are not yet at the stage where other parts of the world, including the United States, have had catastrophic consequences, but we are moving in that direction. And if we don’t stop the spread, our hospitals will be overwhelmed.”
A record 5,424 people were hospitalized with the disease on Saturday – more than 300 as of Friday – and 21% of these people are in the ICU. Hospital capacity across the country is very limited and it is difficult for health workers to keep up with care needs.
NBCLA’s Whitney Ashton talks to nurse Alice Benjamin about the questions surrounding the COVID-19 vaccines recently approved by the FDA for emergency authorization. As seen on NBCLA on Friday, December 18, 2020.
“We’re being crushed. I’m not going to soften this up. We’re being crushed,” said Spellberg. “For most days of the past week, we didn’t have IC beds open in the morning and had to scramble – ‘can we move this patient here’, ‘can we move that patient there’. … We are expanding care already looking forward to parts of the hospital where we normally do not provide that kind of care.
“… And it’s not just COVID patients,” he said. ‘They are car accidents and heart attacks and victims of violence. They need a place to receive critical care. We can only respond. We cannot stop the spread. We need the public to listen to these mitigation strategies to slow the spread, or we will be completely out of bed. “
Spellberg also voiced the frustration of health workers caused by those who deny the virus’s seriousness and downplay its impact on hospitals.
“The amount of moral courage it takes to run to danger makes it very frustrating for our heroes every day to come to our hospitals and care for patients when we see video and hear that people aren’t taking public health strategies seriously,” he said. .
His comments came amid a spate of cases that have exploded in the county since November, exacerbated by the Thanksgiving holiday and its accompanying
gatherings that took place despite warnings against them.
Dr. Christina Ghaly said there were a total of 699 hospital beds available in Los Angeles County as of Friday morning – with a population of 10 million people – and only 69 IC beds. That is less than Thursday’s figures of 716 beds in total and 92 IC beds. Ghaly noted that the numbers represent a “snapshot” of a daily morning poll of the 70 “911 receiving” hospitals with emergency rooms, and the numbers can fluctuate dramatically throughout the day.
In recent days, the provincial hospitals have operated close to their total licensed capacity of about 2,500 ICU beds.
Last week, provincial hospitals operated an average of about 10,360 non-ICU beds per day, based on physical space and available staff. In total, provincial hospitals are licensed to operate about 17,000 non-ICU beds, but that number is limited by the availability of staff to treat patients.
Passengers are talking about taking a COVID test before and after so they can go home for Christmas. Vikki Vargas reports December 18, 2020.
Ghaly echoed Spellberg’s warning that crushing patients in hospitals threatens care for everyone, not just COVID-19 patients.
“Everyone has seen firsthand how devastating this pandemic is and still is, and knows that we are fighting this unprecedented wave that is overwhelming our hospitals and the ability … of hospitals to care for anyone who needs their services, really undermine. ”she said. And that is now in danger. ‘
On Thursday, the state announced that Southern California’s 11-county region had formally reached zero capacity in intensive care units. The designation does not mean that no beds are available, as the state adjusts the capacity figure based on the ratio of COVID patients occupying ICU space.
Ghaly previously said that Los Angeles County hospitals averaged about 600 coronavirus shots per day, up from about 500 last week. Based on current trends, hospitals could allow between 750 and 1,350 new COVID admissions per day by the end of December, she said.
Public health director Barbara Ferrer said mean daily deaths from COVID-19 in the province have increased 267% since Nov. 9, to 44 a day since last week, and probably even higher this week given recent rising death rates. Ferrer said this amounts to two people in the province dying every hour from COVID-19.
County officials said the local transmission rate for COVID-19 – the average number of people infecting each COVID-positive person with the virus – is now 1.2, compared to 1.16 a week ago. Any time the rate exceeds 1, the number of cases is expected to increase.
The province also estimates that one in 80 residents who are not hospitalized or in quarantine / isolation is infected with the virus, likely without knowing it or showing symptoms, but is still capable of infecting others.
“Based on the science of COVID-19 transmission, the devastation we are now experiencing is due to the fact that people who were unknowingly infected with the virus are in close or direct contact with another person or group to infect them, ” County Health Agent Dr. Muntu Davis said Thursday.
The Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency permit for the Moderna coronavirus vaccine on Friday evening.
“It could have happened at work or when they were traveling or visiting people outside their home with whom they do not live with during the holidays, whether here in the county or in another county or state or country.
“ The science of COVID-19 transmission also indicates that transmission occurs more easily in crowded areas with many people around, close-contact environments, especially where people have conversations very close together and in confined or enclosed spaces with poor ventilation, ” he said. “And that the risk of COVID-19 spreading is higher where these three conditions overlap.”
The Southern California region – which includes Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Diego, Imperial, Inyo, Mono, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties – is under a state-mandated regional stay-at-home warrant that includes meetings of people from different households are blocked and many businesses are forced to close, while others are limited.
Waiver schools can remain open, along with “critical infrastructure” and shops, which are limited to 20% of capacity.
Restaurants are limited to takeout and delivery.
Hotels are allowed to open “only to support critical infrastructure,” while churches would be limited to field services only. Entertainment production – including professional sports – should be allowed to continue without a live audience.
The order will remain in effect until at least December 28.