[ad_1]
Los Angeles County reported 12,488 new cases of COVID-19 and 91 more deaths on Sunday, but also a slight decrease in the number of coronavirus patients in county hospitals.
A total of 7,544 COVID-19 patients have been hospitalized with the virus, including 21% in intensive care, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. That’s a decrease from the 7,627 patients reported on Saturday.
County totals for the entire pandemic are now 818,639 cases and 10,773 deaths.
The number of cases has doubled over the past month.
Conditions are dire in county hospitals, with ambulances waiting up to eight hours to unload patients, resulting in a shortage of paramedics on the streets and longer 911 response times.
“Our deepest condolences go out to the many families who mourn a loved one who died of COVID-19 and you stay in our thoughts as we begin this new year,” Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said on Saturday.
“The strategy to stop the outbreak is quite simple. When people stay away from others, the virus cannot spread like it currently does. The longer we stay at home, the more we avoid in-person activities with it. other people we don’t live with, the more we reduce the spread of the virus.
“While orders from health workers create the framework to protect each other, it is our actions that keep people from being hospitalized and dying. stop the outbreak, ”Ferrer said.
Amid the unfolding disaster, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is sending experts to help with oxygen delivery systems at six of the county’s oldest hospitals, state officials said on Friday.
Manhattan Beach says the new strain of COVID-19 is behind their decision to remove outdoor seating outside restaurants. The city found this loophole to avoid restaurant restrictions. Michelle Valles reports on Sunday January 3, 2021.
“The current surge in patients … it’s kind of a hidden disaster,” Cathy Chidester, director of the county’s emergency medical services agency, said earlier this week. “It’s not a fire. It is not an earthquake. It’s not a train wreck that’s in public view and they can see what’s going on and they can avoid that area. Everything happens behind the doors of households and hospitals. really, the general public doesn’t really see what’s going on. “
Chidester said there were reports of hospitals so overwhelmed that ambulances wait seven or eight hours in emergency bays, forcing patients to be treated in the ambulance. But more importantly, the delay prevents ambulances from functioning, leaving 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 and longer,” Chidester said.
She said that in the Antelope Valley, the county uses ambulances and ambulance companies “that are not traditionally 911 response ambulances” just to keep up with demand.
The Army Corps of Engineers team will assess oxygen systems at the following county 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 the problematic oxygen delivery systems at these older hospitals, we can improve the ability to provide life-saving medical care to those in need,” said Mark Ghilarducci, director of the office. of the governor’s emergency services.
The more transmissible mutant strain of the virus that causes COVID-19 has been found in San Bernardino County and health experts say we’ll likely see more of this contagious strain now that we test it. Darsha Philips is reporting for NBC4 News at 11:00 p.m. on January 2, 2021.
Dr Christina Ghaly, county health services director, said some hospitals’ pipes cannot maintain sufficient pressure and may even freeze.
Military experts will oversee any upgrades deemed necessary at affected hospitals.
The county’s most recent figures on Friday showed a total of 773 available and staffed hospital beds, including just 57 beds for adults in intensive care. These numbers change rapidly throughout the day.
With the rise in hospitalizations comes an increase in deaths, and the county reported a record 290 deaths on Thursday – though some of those deaths were attributed to the backlog of reports dating back to the Christmas weekend . Ferrer noted that 86% of people who died from COVID-19 in the county had underlying health issues, up from more than 90% in the early days of the pandemic.
This drop “indicates that in fact there are more people than ever before not only died, but died without any underlying health problem.”
Ferrer again highlighted the young residents for increasing the number of cases. She said that among people aged 30 to 49, an average of 4,419 people per day test positive for the virus, an 850% increase from the start of November, when an average of 463 people tested positive by day. Among 18-29 year olds, the daily average has more than doubled.
But these young patients are not the ones who die from it. In a standard pattern, younger residents are infected more often and then pass the virus on to older residents, who are at greater risk of hospitalization or death. Ferrer noted that among people aged 80 and over, an average of 40 people die each day from the virus – up from four in early November.
“ Without a drop in the number of new cases, our hospitals continue to be overwhelmed, ” Ferrer said. “ As more people are rushed to hospitals, the tragic fact is that hundreds more people will die each week from COVID-19. These trends will unfortunately continue in January, and if we do not do nothing, certainly beyond. ”
Some LA County hospitals are treating so many patients that their oxygen delivery system is overloaded. Six of those hospitals will start receiving aid on Saturday. Michelle Valles reports on Saturday January 2, 2021.
Chidester said if residents can see what’s going on inside hospitals, they’ll see the crisis in the eyes of healthcare workers.
“It’s like the deer in the headlights,” she said. “They are overwhelmed. They are pale. They are trying to do their best with limited resources at this point, because there are so many patients. … When you go to the hospital and the ICUs, it’s still very calm, but believe me it is a disaster. What is happening in our hospitals is just heartbreaking. … There is no doubt, and I am telling you right now, we are in the middle disaster. ”
Nearly 4,800,000 million people had been tested Sunday, 16% of people having tested positive.
[ad_2]
Source link