The number of coronavirus patients in county hospitals amounted to 7,613, the highest number observed during the pandemic, with 21% of people in intensive care units.
Conditions continue to worsen in county hospitals, with ambulances waiting up to eight hours to unload patients, resulting in a shortage of paramedic equipment on the streets and longer response times than 911.
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In the midst of the disaster, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is sending experts to help with oxygen supply systems to six of the county’s oldest hospitals, state officials announced Friday.
“The current increase in patients … is kind of a hidden disaster,” Cathy Chidester, director of the county’s emergency medical services agency, said earlier this week. “It’s not a fire. It’s not an earthquake. It’s not a train accident that’s right in front of the public and they can see what’s going on and avoid that area. Everything is going on at the doors of homes and hospitals. .So no one is really, the general public, who doesn’t really see what’s going on. “
Chidester said there are reports of hospitals being so overrun that ambulances wait seven or eight hours in emergency rooms, forcing patients to be treated in the ambulance. But more importantly, the delay is keeping ambulances out of service and leaving them unable to respond to additional emergency medical calls, he said.
“We’re running out of ambulances and our response to 911 calls is getting longer and longer,” Chidester said.
He said in the Antelope Valley, the county uses ambulances and ambulance companies “which are traditionally not 911 response ambulances” just to keep up with demand.
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The Army Corps of Engineers team will evaluate oxygen systems at the following hospitals in the county: Adventist Health White Memorial Hospital, Los Angeles; Emanate Health Queen of the Valley Hospital, West Covina; Mission Community Hospital, Panorama City; Beverly Community Hospital, Montebello; Lakewood Regional Medical Center, Lakewood; PIH Health Hospital, Downey.
“By working to improve oxygen supply 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 Office of D ‘Governor’s emergency.
Dr. Christina Ghaly, the county’s director of health services, has said the pipes in some hospitals can’t keep up enough pressure and can even freeze.
Military experts will monitor any updates deemed necessary at the affected hospitals.
Los Angeles County launched a New Year’s Twitter campaign #Every10Minutes that highlighted the deadly peatism of the pandemic.
A tweet every 10 minutes honors someone who has died for COVID-19.
The campaign comes when many people ignored requests to stay home on New Year’s Eve, with several public meetings held in Southern California.
Few wore masks at Point Mugu, where actor Kirk Cameron staged another maskless rally 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 filled a parking lot to sound the new year. Few who attended the open-air concert, hosted by Christian activist Sean Feucht, wore masks or physically distanced themselves from the Church of the Upper Vision.
Car enthusiasts gathered in Pasadena to do their annual New Year’s Eve cruise with the Rose Parade, even though the world-famous program had been canceled.
A special task force from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department raided five countywide “super-broadcast” New Year’s Eve parties, making more than 90 arrests and firing seven weapons. fire on the streets, officials said Friday.
The raids included one in Hawthorne, two in Los Angeles, one in Malibu and another in Pomona, Sergeant LASD. Said Bob Boese. Locations were attacked: rents, empty warehouses, hotels and closed businesses.
Overall, 90 adults were arrested and cited for violations of the county’s Safer At Home order to curb the rise in COVID-19 cases, Boese continued. One person was arrested for alleged possession of narcotics and a loaded firearm. More than 900 people were warned and warned of the safest order at home. Deputies recovered five pistols from the event in Hawthorne, officials said.
“I have made it clear that we will seek and take action to enforce the law against all super-disclosure events that occur anywhere in Los Angeles County,” said Sheriff Alex Villanueva. “The goal of these enforcement actions is to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and the risk to our vulnerable populations.”
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The most recent figures for the county showed a total of 773 hospital beds available and staffed, including only 57 adult ICU beds. These numbers change rapidly throughout the day.
With the increase in hospitalizations, deaths are on the rise and the county reported 290 fatalities on Thursday, although some of those deaths are attributed to the delay that dates back to the Christmas holiday weekend. . County public health director Barbara Ferrer noted that 86% of people who died of COVID-19 in the county had underlying health conditions, below more than 90% in the early days of the pandemic.
This fall “indicates that, in fact, there are more people than ever who not only die, but die without any underlying health condition.”
Nearly 4,737,000 people had been tested as of Friday, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, with 16% of people testing positive.
The county’s coronavirus toll is now 790,582 cases and 10,552 fatalities.
“These trends will continue until January and, if we do nothing, definitely beyond,” Ferrer said.
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City News Service contributed to this report.
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