As Los Angeles County continues to see an unprecedented wave of coronavirus cases, travelers returning to the region must be quarantined.
All who have traveled from the province must be quarantined for ten days upon return, the LA Department of Public Health announced in a press release. If a person begins to experience symptoms of the virus or is positive, they should be isolated for ten days and until they are fever-free for 24 hours.
According to the department, people in quarantine should not leave their home or receive visitors, but rather find others who can buy groceries or other essential items for it.
“For those who have traveled outside LA County and recently returned, you may have had exposure to COVID-19,” officials said. “The virus can take up to 14 days to hatch, and for many people the virus does not cause any disease or symptoms. If you go back to work, shopping or going to any event over the next ten days, you can easily transmit the virus to others. ”
The announcement did not indicate whether people who violated the requirement would be punished.
Last month, LA Mayor Eric Garcetti announced that state travelers arriving in the city by plane or train must sign a form acknowledging the 14-day state quarantine advice.
The form, available at travel.lacity.org, recognizes that anyone traveling from other states or states to California must be in quarantine for 14 days and limit the interaction to their immediate household. All travelers over the age of 16 must complete the form before or upon arrival by submitting their name and contact information.
San Francisco also issued its own travel order this month, requiring anyone to visit the city from outside the Bay for ten days in quarantine. Violation of the order is a violation.
The number of COVID-19 patients in LA County hospitals has been increasing since the end of October. For the first time, the number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized more than 7,000 in a single day, a milestone that occurred on Sunday – and was ten times greater than the number in early October, when less than 700 people were hospitalized is.
As of Monday morning, there were only 54 available ICU beds in LA County, and half of them were for pediatric patients. Dr. Christina Ghaly, director of health services in LA County, said two-thirds of the ICU beds in LA County are filled with COVID-19 patients.
“All hospitals are experiencing this tension, but it is especially more pronounced and more serious for some of the smaller hospitals,” Ghaly said. “Many hospitals have reached a crisis point and have to make very difficult decisions about patient care.”
Virtually all hospitals in the country are forced most of the day to divert ambulances with certain types of patients because they are under pressure. On Sunday, 94% of the hospitals in the country receiving 911 calls diverted certain types of patients in ambulances.
“But soon there is no place where these ambulances can go,” Ghaly said. “If every hospital distracts, then there is no hospital that distracts.”