The number of coronavirus patients in provincial hospitals rose to 7,613, the highest number seen during the pandemic, with 21% of those in intensive care units.
Conditions in hospitals in the province continue to deteriorate, with ambulances waiting up to eight hours to unload patients, leading to a shortage of paramedics on the street and longer emergency number response times.
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Amid the unfolding disaster, the US Army Corps of Engineers is sending experts to assist with the oxygen delivery systems in six of the county’s older hospitals, state officials announced Friday.
“The current increase in patients … it’s kind of a hidden disaster,” Cathy Chidester, director of the County Emergency Medical Services Agency, said earlier this week. It’s not a fire. It’s not an earthquake. It’s not a train wreck going into the public eye and they can see what’s happening and they can avoid that area. It’s all happening behind the doors of households and hospitals. So no one is real the general public doesn’t really see what’s going on. ”
Chidester said there have been reports of hospitals being so overwhelmed that ambulances wait seven or eight hours in emergency halls, forcing patients to be treated in the ambulance. But more importantly, the delay leaves the ambulances out of service, making them unable to respond to additional emergency medical calls, she said.
“We are running out of ambulances, and our response to 911 calls is getting longer,” Chidester said.
She said that in the Antelope Valley, the county uses ambulances and ambulance companies “which are not traditionally emergency ambulances” just to keep up with demand.
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The Army Corps of Engineers team will evaluate oxygen systems in the following provincial hospitals: Adventist Health White Memorial Hospital, Los Angeles; Emanate Health Queen of the Valley Hospital, West Covina; Mission Community Hospital, Panorama City; Beverly Community Hospital, Montebello; Lakewood Regional Medical Center, Lakewood; PIH Health Hospital, Downey.
“By working to upgrade troubled oxygen delivery systems in these older hospitals, we can improve the ability to provide life-support medical care to those who need it,” said Mark Ghilarducci, director of the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.
Dr. Christina Ghaly, the director of the provincial health services, has said that some hospitals’ pipes cannot hold enough pressure and may even freeze.
The military experts will monitor any upgrades deemed necessary in the affected hospitals.
LA County launched a Twitter campaign on New Year’s Day # Every10Minutes highlighting the deadly toll of the pandemic.
A tweet every 10 minutes honors someone who has died from COVID-19.
The campaign comes as many people ignored pleas to stay home on New Year’s Eve, with a number of public gatherings in Southern California.
Few wore masks in Point Mugu, where actor Kirk Cameron hosted another maskless rally on Thursday, where groups of people were seen on the beach for a faith-based event.
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It was a similar scene in Valencia, where hundreds had packed a parking space to ring in the New Year. Few who attended the open-air concert, hosted by Christian activist Sean Feucht, at the Higher Vision Church wore masks or were physically aloof.
Car enthusiasts gathered in Pasadena for their annual New Year’s Eve Rose Parade cruise, even though the world-famous show had been canceled.
A special task force from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department raided five “ super-spreader ” parties throughout the district on New Year’s Eve, making more than 90 arrests and removing seven small arms from the streets, officials said Friday.
The raids included one in Hawthorne, two in Los Angeles, one in Malibu and one in Pomona, LASD Sgt. Bob Boese said. The locations that were raided included rental properties, vacant warehouses, hotels and shutter companies.
A total of 90 adults were arrested and cited for violations of the county’s Safer At Home order to stop the increase in COVID-19 cases, Boese continued. One person was arrested for alleged possession of narcotics and a loaded firearm. More than 900 people have been alerted and notified of the updated Safer-at-Home order. Delegates recovered five guns from the Hawthorne event, officials said.
“I have made it clear that we will seek and take law enforcement action against any superspread events happening all over Los Angeles County,” said Sheriff Alex Villanueva. “The purpose of these enforcement measures is to reduce the spread of COVID. 19 and reduce the risk to our vulnerable populations.”
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The most recent figures from the province show that there are a total of 773 available and staffed hospital beds, including only 57 adult IC beds. Those numbers change rapidly throughout the day.
With increased hospital admissions, more deaths are coming, and the county reported a record 290 fatalities Thursday – though some of those deaths were attributed to the reporting backlog dating back to Christmas weekend. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer noted that 86% of people who died from COVID-19 in the county had underlying health problems, up from more than 90% in the early days of the pandemic.
That decrease “indicates that there are, in fact, more people than ever who not only die, but also die without underlying health problems.”
By Friday, nearly 4,737,000 people had been tested, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, with 16% of people testing positive.
The coronavirus toll on the province now stands at 790,582 cases and 10,552 fatalities.
“These trends will continue into January, and if we don’t act, certainly beyond,” Ferrer said.
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City News Service contributed to this report.
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