L.A. County health officials today reported another 20,414 COVID-19 cases, and 207 deaths. Of those newly reported deaths, 40 are still from the Christmas Day backlog, when a Spectrum outage delayed reports.
The county also set another record high for hospitalizations, with 7,613 COVID-19 patients now being treated. To put that into context, that's about a 1,000 more people than this time last week. Of those patients, 21% are in ICUs.
At the same time, the state reported the most coronavirus deaths in single day to date: 585.
Cathy Chidester is the director of the county Emergency Medical Services agency said this week that staff can't keep up.
"It's like the deer in the headlights. They are overwhelmed, they are pale. They are trying to do the best they can with limited resources at this point because there's so many patients. But believe me, it's a disaster."
And this is what she means by "disaster:" hospitals are so overwhelmed that ambulances are waiting seven or eight hours in emergency bays. So patients are being treated in the ambulance instead of in the hospital. And more importantly, Chidester says that delay means fewer ambulances to respond to 911 calls and longer response times.
Health officials are very concerned about a post-New Year surge from people gathering despite repeated pleas to skip festivities this year. Such a surge could overwhelm a health care system that's already struggling to keep up.
Chidester calls what's happening in hospitals right now a "hidden disaster."
"It's not a fire. It's not an earthquake," she explained. "It's not a train wreck that's right in the public view and they can see what is happening and they can avoid that area. It's all happening behind the doors of households and hospitals so nobody is really - or the general public - is not really seeing what is going on."
County public health director Barbara Ferrer has said she expects the trends of record-setting cases, hospitalizations, and deaths to continue through January — and even beyond — unless the majority of us change our behaviors.
The latest L.A. County numbers came as teams from the U-S Army Corps of Engineers prepare to help six Los Angeles-area hospitals upgrade their aging oxygen delivery systems.
A release from the Governor's office says the volume of oxygen flow required to treat COVID-19 patients with respiratory issues is overtaxing older tech at those facilities. The hospitals are:
- Adventist Health White Memorial Hospital in L.A.
- Beverly Community Hospital in Montebello
- Emanate Health Queen of the Valley Hospital in West Covina
- Lakewood Regional Medical Center
- Mission Community Hospital in Panorama City
- And PIH Health Hospital in Downey.
Those assessments could start as soon as Saturday, Jan. 2.
OVERALL LOOK AT LA COUNTY NUMBERS:
Here's a look at longer-term trends in the county. To see more, visit our California COVID-19 Tracker and choose L.A. County or any other California county that interests you. These numbers are current as of Thursday, Dec. 31:
Our news is free on LAist. To make sure you get our coverage: Sign up for our daily newsletters. To support our non-profit public service journalism: Donate Now.
"close" - Google News
January 02, 2021 at 05:00AM
https://ift.tt/3b1PiVJ
Pink's Hot Dogs To Close For 2 Months Amid Covid Surge - LAist
"close" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2QTYm3D
https://ift.tt/3d2SYUY
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Pink's Hot Dogs To Close For 2 Months Amid Covid Surge - LAist"
Post a Comment