LOS ANGELES – Painting a dire picture of upward spikes in coronavirus cases and spread, Los Angeles County health officials said Monday without a dramatic reversal in public behavior to control the virus “we will see a lot more deaths” and possibly run short of hospital beds in a matter of weeks.
The latest statistics compiled by local health officials estimate that on average, one in every 140 people in Los Angeles County is infected with COVID-19 and capable of spreading it to others, likely without having any symptoms or even knowing they are carrying the virus.
That figure is up dramatically from last week, when the estimate was one in every 400 people.
Dr. Christina Ghaly, the county’s health services director, noted the “stark change” in hospitalizations over the past week, with more than 1,700 people currently hospitalized, up from about 1,300 at the beginning of June. She said if that trend continues, the county could quickly run out of intensive- care unit beds, forcing hospitals to adjust operations and create additional ICU space.
She noted that given the 14-day incubation period of the virus, even if the spread stopped immediately, uncounted numbers of people have already been infected and will impact the health system in the coming weeks.
“The rising patient volume in our hospitals will likely fill all of the intensive care unit beds that are currently available,” she said.
Lewis said the problem will go beyond just ICU beds.
“The expected increase in hospitalizations, assuming the increase in (transmission rates) continues … suggest that we are at risk of running out of hospital beds if we don’t take steps to increase that capacity within the next two to three weeks,” said Dr. Roger Lewis, who leads the county’s statistical modeling efforts.
He stressed that many of the people who will need those beds in coming weeks “are people who have already been exposed.”
The warnings came on a day the county announced a daily record 2,903 new cases of the coronavirus, pushing the total over the six-figure mark, reaching 100,772. The county also announced another 22 deaths, raising the overall death total to 3,326.
To date (June 29), Public Health has identified 1,248 coronavirus cases and 20 deaths in Palmdale; 1,081 cases and 19 deaths in Lancaster; 60 cases and nine deaths in Quartz Hill; 52 cases and two deaths in Lake Los Angeles; 60 cases and no deaths in the Littlerock/Pearblossom, Juniper Hills areas; and 52 cases and no deaths in Sun Village. View the latest detailed report here.
With test results now available for more than 1 million individuals, 9% are testing positive in the county. The seven-day average of the daily positivity rate has increased from 5.8% two weeks ago to 8.4% as of Monday.
Some officials have attributed the rise in overall cases to increases in testing, but county officials said repeatedly in recent days that the metrics clearly demonstrate an increase in community spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
Health officials said that cases affecting younger people between 18 and 40 have jumped by 42% over the past two weeks, making that age group the driving factor in the increases.
Health officials pointed to a variety of issues leading to the spike in cases, noting increasing numbers of people visiting restaurants, bars, beaches and stores, and also attending mass protests against police brutality, and visiting relatives and friends.
County public health director Barbara Ferrer acknowledged the problem of quarantine fatigue and conceded that residents are anxious to get back to normal life and may see the reopening of businesses as a sign the virus is disappearing — leading to a lack of social distancing and a failure to wear face coverings.
Ferrer said that problem played out over the past two weeks, saying that during the weekend of June 20, roughly 500,000 people visited bars and nightlife spots.
Responding to that surge, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday ordered all bars closed in Los Angeles County. Ferrer noted that Los Angeles County enacted an amended local health order within hours of that announcement, a hint that the county was already preparing to make such a move before Newsom’s proclamation.
Los Angeles County also announced that all of its beaches will be closed during the upcoming Fourth of July holiday weekend in hopes of preventing large gatherings.
Ferrer said restaurants and bars continue to struggle with fully adhering to all of the safety protocols for operating. She said of the establishments visited by inspectors over the weekend, 49% of bars and 33% of restaurants were failing to meet physical distancing requirements. She said 54% of bars and 44% of restaurants were violating the requirement that workers wear face masks and shields.
Overall, 83% of restaurants were found to be in violation of some aspect of the operating guidelines, as were 65% of retail stores.
Ferrer said she’s gotten an “explosion” of new outbreaks in workplaces that are being operated without health protocols.
“And we’ve had numerous examples of outbreaks happening because families are getting together with extended family members and friends to celebrate weddings, things that they have postponed, and again have created higher risk and there was transmission,” Ferrer said.
Given that current coronavirus case numbers reflect transmission that occurred over the past two to four weeks, Ferrer said officials were not dismissing the mass protests against police brutality as a contributing factor in the spike in cases, but said “that alone would not explain the increase.”
“I appreciate that there’s no one place to lay any blame and we’re absolutely not trying to do that, particularly because there are many businesses that have opened and they’ve adhered to every single protocol that’s in place, and they’re doing their very best to offer safety to employees and customers,” Ferrer said. “… These are high-risk settings and there are lots of people out and about in these settings.”
She said restaurants, retail businesses and residents all have to work together to stem the rising tide of cases.
“We will see a lot more deaths if we can’t turn this around, so we do need everyone’s help,” she said.
She said residents need to take seriously the call to leave home only for essentials, avoid contact with people outside their own household, wear face coverings and practice social distancing.
“At this point, if you’re not part of the solution to slowing the spread, you’re ending up being part of the problem,” Ferrer said.
Ferrer said the latest dire statistics have led to a “tenuous moment” in the pandemic, and with the Fourth of July holiday weekend approaching, people need to avoid the temptation to act as if the coronavirus is gone.
“This is going to be a different summer,” she said. “This is going to be a different July Fourth.”
The county opted to close all beaches for the long holiday weekend, with Supervisor Janice Hahn saying via Twitter, “We cannot risk having crowds at the beach this holiday weekend.”
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Glen says
Now the swine flu could be the next pandemic coming from China.
Dave says
Wow! The symptoms sound like the results of a venomous snake bite.
Under an electron microscope, the infected cells send out tentacles to healthy cells targeting their cell command structures which in turn send out more tentacles to other cells.
What a virus.
Hey, racists. COVID-19 looks down on humans as inferior life forms. That means you.
How does that feel? And it will kill you in case you don’t pay attention to your surroundings. Sound familiar.
Ruth says
I’m smart enough to know when I’m being lied to. This whole coronavirus thing stinks. I am less worried about the coronavirus, growing significantly more worried by the day why we haven’t heard word one, from our National Bio-defense Analysis & Countermeasures Center, Fort Detrick. Not a peep? Quiet as a mouse? Sitting on their hands, no guidance, whatsoever? What is their major malfunction? Billions taxpayers squander, on their high 5-figure salaries, their country club memberships, their fancy cars, so caught up in their consumerist goals, they got caught with their pants down, absolutely nothing to say, about America’s most significant national emergency since the War of 1812? Yet, not one raised eyebrow, not one person from our mainstream media questions anything about this? I’m the only person on planet Earth, who does? It stinks. We are definitely not getting the straight scoop on this coronavirus thing.
Barbi says
My vote for social distancing of the year award goes to National Bio-defense, Fort Detrick. A perfect 5-for-five, they’ve distanced themselves entirely, from coronavirus defense, from coronavirus analysis, from coronavirus countermeasures, not to mention — everybody here in America.
Covid-25 says
CIA/Mossad-flu…
Laughing says
Had not thought of that office in a long time.
Perhaps world leaders got together and came up with a plan to reduce populations and reset the economies for growth.
Problem with that theory, rates of death are way too low to affect either. Though on paper a stalled economy recovering looks ok, ‘See I created jobs during my presidency’. Uh sir/madam, the jobs are coming back because we can finally open things again, has ZERO to do with you.
So many conspiracy theories, so little time to analyze each.
Trumpist#1 says
Wow. Thanks for the info and good advice. China will avoid accountability for its bio weaponization of the virus and do it again if Biden is elected.
AV resident says
I’m glad she acknowledges quarantine fatigue. A lot of us have been adhering to the safer at home stipulations since March. I have kids who would like to go out, have play dates, be normal kids. But because of all the people who only think about themselves and their own fun, we are facing yet more months of quarantine. Believe me people, I too wanna go to the beach, to the park, to the mall, etc. but I want to be part of the solution. I have friends I’d like to have lunch with, stores I’d like to visit who would normally have a full menu and lines wrapping around. I get it, we want to get back to normal, but if we don’t put forth our best effort, it will take a whole lot longer for this wretched virus to go away, we’ll see more people getting infected, more people who are at higher risk dying, more children being exposed, and the list goes on. It’s time to be united and do this for everyone around us, for our communities, and for the healthcare workers who’d like a break too. C’mon LA County, we can do this together!