As the city of Los Angeles became the center of COVID-19 in the United States and the number of cases and deaths continued to increase, the Department of Public Health in Los Angeles increased. Launch a Twitter campaign Thursday to highlight the fact that someone in LA County dies every ten minutes due to the virus.
The LA Department of Public Health uses the hashtag # Every10 minutes, which makes a powerful and emotional plea for people to stay home on New Year’s Eve. “Slow down the spread,” the tweets read as well. “Save a life.”
The coronavirus pandemic has infected more than 19.4 million people in the United States and so far more than 343,000 people have died from COVID-19 complications. Elected President Joe Biden said on Tuesday: “Things are going to get worse before they get better.”
On Wednesday, Los Angeles hit the bleak milestone of 10,000 confirmed COVID-19 deaths
Los Angeles was hit particularly hard by COVID-19’s latest boom, with the LA Times reporting that hospitals are so overwhelmed that they turn away ambulances and put patients in gift shops while waiting until hospital beds are available.
“No one would believe it’s in the United States,” said Scott Byington, a critical care nurse at St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, told LA Times. “Everyone does what they can. It’s not that anyone relaxes. It’s just too overwhelming for everyone. ”
California Gov. Mark Ghaly, secretary of health and human services, told a news conference Tuesday that LA extends far beyond our hospitals.
“But we know that the stretch has a limit before it breaks, before we put them in a situation where they make the kind of resources and staff decisions I just went through,” Ghaly said.
The Department of Public Health did not immediately respond to BuzzFeed News’ request for comment. They Twitter account continues to share descriptions of real people taking place behind the COVID deaths in the country.
A driver who had water and gums in the back seat. ‘
‘A friend you’ve not spoken to since high school. ‘
An abuelita who always tried to feed her grandchildren, even when they said they were not hungry. ‘
Each tweet also contains the plea to: “stay home tonight. Slow down the spread. Save a life.”