The number of coronavirus patients in county hospitals rose to 7,613, the highest number seen during the pandemic, with 21% of the people in intensive care units.
Conditions continue to worsen in hospitals across the country, with ambulances waiting up to eight hours to drop off patients, leading to a shortage of paramedics on the streets and longer 911 response times.
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Amid the disaster unfolding, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is sending experts to help with the oxygen delivery systems at six of the country’s older hospitals, state officials announced Friday.
“The current boom in patients … it’s a hidden disaster,” Cathy Chidester, director of the Medical Emergency Services Agency, said earlier this week. “It’s not a fire. This is not an earthquake. This is not a train wreck that is right in public view, and they can see what is happening and they can avoid the area. It all happens behind the doors of households and hospitals. So no one really, the general public, really sees what is going on. ‘
According to Chidester, there are reports of hospitals being so overwhelmed that ambulances wait seven or eight hours in emergencies, requiring patients to be treated in the ambulance. But more importantly, the delay is that the ambulances are out of order so they cannot respond to additional emergency medical calls, she said.
“We no longer have ambulances, and our response to 911 calls is getting longer,” Chidester said.
She said in the Antelope Valley, the country uses ambulances and ambulance companies “that are not traditional 911 response ambulances” just to meet demand.
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The Army Corps of Engineers team will evaluate the oxygen systems at the following provincial hospitals: Adventist Health White Memorial Hospital, Los Angeles; Emanate Health Queen of the Valley Hospital, Western Covina; Mission Community Hospital, Panorama City; Beverly Community Hospital, Montebello; Lakewood Regional Medical Center, Lakewood; PIH Health Hospital, Downey.
“By working on upgrading oxygen delivery systems at these older hospitals, we can improve the ability to provide life-sustaining medical care to those who need it,” said Mark Ghilarducci, director of the governors’ office for emergency services.
Dr. Christina Ghaly, director of the province’s health services, said that some hospitals’ pipes could not maintain sufficient pressure and could even freeze.
The military experts will oversee upgrades deemed necessary at the hospitals concerned.
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 died of COVID-19.
The campaign comes because many people ignore 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 gathering on Thursday, with groups of people seen on the beach for a faith-based event.
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It was a similar scene in Valencia, where hundreds in the new year packed a parking lot to ring. Few people who attended the outdoor concert, hosted by Christian activist Sean Feucht, in the Higher Vision Church wore masks or were physically removed.
Car enthusiasts gathered in Pasadena for their annual New Year’s Eve Rose Parade, although the world-famous show has been canceled.
A special task force from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department conducted raids on five New Year’s Eve “super-spreader” parties across the province, taking more than 90 arrests and seven handguns off the street, 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 rental places included rented houses, empty warehouses, hotels and luxury businesses.
Overall, 90 adults were arrested and cited for violations of the province’s Safer At Home to halt the increase in COVID-19 cases, Boese continued. One person was arrested for alleged possession of drugs and a loaded firearm. More than 900 people have been warned and notified of the updated safer order. Delegates recovered five handguns from the event in Hawthorne, officials said.
“I have made it clear that our law enforcement will detect and take action against all super-distribution events that occur throughout Los Angeles County,” said Sheriff Alex Villanueva. ‘The purpose of these enforcement actions is to reduce the spread of COVID-. 19 and the risk to our vulnerable population. ‘
RELATED: LA County Reminds People to Stay Home in a Powerful Twitter Campaign
The latest figures from the country have a total of 773 hospital beds available and staffed, including only 57 adult ICU beds. These numbers change rapidly throughout the day.
With increasing hospitalizations comes an increase in deaths, and the country reported a record 290 deaths on Thursday – although some of the deaths were attributed to the reporting backlog of the Christmas holiday weekend. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer noted that 86% of people who died from COVID-19 in the country had underlying health conditions, down from more than 90% in the early days of the pandemic.
The decline ‘indicates that there are in fact more people than not only deceased, but that they have died without any underlying health conditions.’ ‘
According to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, nearly 4,737,000 individuals were tested as of Friday, with 16% of people testing positive.
The province’s coronavirus toll now stands at 790,582 cases and 10,552 deaths.
“These trends will continue in January, and if we do nothing, definitely continue,” Ferrer said.
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City News Service contributed to this report.
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