There are now 98 of the trailers to help county forensics store bodies “with respect and dignity,” said Emergency Services Office director Mark Ghilarducci. In Los Angeles County, where one person dies on average every 6 minutes, temporary warehouses have been set up in the parking lot adjacent to the coroner’s office.
The Office of Emergency Services uses state hospitalization data to anticipate how many people may die in the coming weeks. The state analyzes multiple models to try to predict hospitalizations and deaths. The “set” projection that combines all the models estimates that another 10,000 people will die in the next three weeks.
It could be at least two weeks before the state learns of the extent of the damage caused by the virus during the holiday season when many people ignore requests to stay home and not meet with friends and family. extended family. On average, approximately 12% of all people who test positive end up hospitalized, so if there is an increase in new cases, it will further overwhelm hospitals. And eventually there will be more people dying.
Ghilarducci said the state has activated its “massive fatality management plan” to try to prevent large backups in the morgues.
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“It’s important to know that there is a plan, it’s underway and it’s active today,” Ghilarducci said. “We will continue to work on this with each of our 58 counties to ensure that all of these people are cared for in the most respectful manner.”
Strong forecasts contrasted with an optimistic press conference on Friday by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Gov. Gavin Newsom at Dodger Stadium, which is becoming a vaccination center capable of delivering 12,000 doses a day.
California has received more than 3.5 million doses of the vaccine and has administered just over a million doses. Newsom said the state was about to exceed its goal of giving about 1.5 million doses on Friday.
Newsom tried to shed light on encouraging trends: hospitalizations, admissions to intensive care units, and positivity rates (the percentage of people tested who have the virus) have declined over the past seven days.
The figures were enough for the Newsom administration earlier this week to lift the home stay order for the 13-county Sacramento region, which includes the state capital and Lake Tahoe. a popular winter tourist destination.
The move allows for reopening hairdressing and nail salons and other businesses and restaurants can resume outdoor restaurants and provides a slight increase in the number of customers in stores.
“We’re starting to see light at the end of the tunnel, not just the light the vaccines provide,” Newsom said.
California, the nation’s most populous state, with nearly 40 million residents, has averaged more than 41,000 new cases of coronavirus each day over the past two weeks, making previous outbreaks higher. Although California has the second highest number of deaths in the country, the state ranks 39th in the number of deaths per capita at 81.8.
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