The coronavirus is rushing through Los Angeles County, infecting thousands of people every day and hammering already overcrowded hospitals with an avalanche of new patients – a devastating double blow with deadly consequences.
The consequences of the ongoing COVID-19 boom are ‘the worst disaster our country has experienced in decades’, according to the director of public health, Barbara Ferrer,’ and, as with other frightening situations, the end of this boom will only happen when more people and more businesses take control and do the right thing. ”
Over the past week, an average of more than 200 Angelenos have died each day from COVID-19 – a rate that has pushed the country’s cumulative toll past 12,000.
Behind the serious data points, however, are people whose loss is rippling through their entire family, their workplaces and their wider communities, officials note.
“Dying for COVID in the hospital only means dying,” said LA County Supervisor Hilda Solis. ‘Visitors are not allowed in hospitals for their own safety. Families say goodbye to tablets and cell phones. ”
In some cases, Solis said, the youngest relatives’ last words are apologies to their younger relatives for exposing them to the virus.
After weeks of rapid increase, the number of COVID-19 patients admitted to hospital nationwide has recently stabilized at just under 8,000.
Although the plateau is welcome, officials warn that it is too soon to declare the worst boom. The full effects of the recent holiday season have yet to be seen, and any growth in the number of new infections will always result in a corresponding increase in hospitalizations.
This is a gloomy possibility, as the stress healthcare systems are already down. Confronted with the overwhelming need, some provincial hospitals had to erect beds in corridors or gift shops to accommodate the pressure on coronavirus-positive patients. Ambulances wait hours in some cases to load patients into overcrowded emergency rooms.
Systems designed to deliver life-saving oxygen have been emphasized to their breaking point. Problems on Dec. 27 with oxygen systems in the hospital caused five LA County hospitals to declare an ‘internal disaster,’ allowing a facility to close its emergency room to all incoming ambulance traffic.
“Hospitals are on the verge of care, which means decisions have to be made about who can access scarce resources,” Solis said.
“The situation,” she emphasizes, “is worse than ever.”
Over the past week, officials have reported an average of 14,518 new cases of coronavirus per day – equivalent to 10 Angelenos tested positive every minute, according to data compiled by The Times.
And officials are still seeing how much travel and events during the past holiday could exacerbate the transfer.
“This is the time to be extremely careful and very cautious,” Ferrer said during a briefing Monday. “We can not ease our efforts yet – neither now nor for the next few weeks.”
Because the coronavirus is so widespread, officials said it was more important than ever for residents to keep their hats off, physically distance themselves from those they do not live with and that they wear masks in public to reduce the risk of transmission. .
“The biggest single factor in all of this comes down to the fact that individuals take appropriate steps and take personal steps,” Ferrer said. “We really just need everyone to do the right thing to protect each other so we can stop the broadcast that now occurs in epic relationships.”