[ad_1]
Amid growing signs that many people are ignoring warnings to avoid Christmas gatherings and travel, some people are being tested for COVID-19 in hopes of being “allowed” to enjoy the group vacations.
It happened before Thanksgiving with disastrous results: Many attended holiday events and fell ill, causing the coronavirus to spread uncontrollably, filling hospitals and contributing to the outbreak’s worsening.
Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer urged people not to believe a negative test result means it is safe to attend or hold a vacation meeting with people of more than one household.
“The moment you get a negative test result, you can no longer be negative,” Ferrer said. “And even if you don’t have any symptoms, you can easily infect others.”
Sometimes people can test negative even if they are actually infected because the virus has not yet replicated to detectable levels.
Relying on tests to determine if it is safe to assemble “is a very dangerous strategy,” said Dr Christina Ghaly, director of health services for LA County.
“This is the one that failed and this is a big part of what got us to the situation we find ourselves in today,” Ghaly said. “So please celebrate the holidays only with your household… Please leave these celebrations in person with extended family members or with friends until later in 2021.”
On Monday, at Los Angeles International Airport, around 20 people lined up to receive a COVID-19 test in Terminal 2 of one of the few test sites scattered around the airport.
Max Salit, 22, chose to use the airport’s $ 125 test service after arriving on a Delta flight from Florida. A Chicago resident, Salit had stayed with his parents in the Tampa, Florida area for several months, and decided it was finally time to leave.
He will stay in an Airbnb rental in Los Angeles until he receives the results of his quick test, he said, at which point he “will fall on a friend’s couch.” He and his friends plan to spend Christmas hiking in Joshua Tree National Park.
“It’s not like I’m coming to LA to go clubbing,” Salit said – although some of his friends suggested a “party trip” to Miami instead of the desert.
“There is an end in sight,” Salit told his friends, referring to the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines. “We just have to hold on for a few months.”
Still, Ferrer said any kind of gathering can constitute risky behavior.
“If we don’t change the way we’re going to celebrate the winter break, we’re going to have a push plus a push plus a push,” she said. “Our hospitals are already over capacity and the high quality medical care we are used to in LA County is starting to be compromised as our frontline health workers are beyond their limits.”
On Monday, at the coronavirus testing kiosk near the entrance to Union Station, a dozen people lined up to swab their mouths and pass the sample to a healthcare worker via a secure submission box.
Kaley Mahoney, 31, was getting tested so she could spend Christmas with her friends.
“I’m worried, but I’ve been isolated so I feel good,” said Mahoney, a food delivery boy. “It gets worse when you listen to the news.”
One online group included a mother and her four children, including a son whose girlfriend tested positive for coronavirus.
It took the five of them three days to get an appointment, said mother, Mary Sanchez – an agonizing wait as her son’s girlfriend had visited her home several times with “cold symptoms.” “.
Sanchez said his family will stay close at their Boyle Heights home over Christmas, where they are most immune to the outbreak.
[ad_2]
Source link