County breaks COVID records, but worse times ahead
LOS ANGELES — Marking the worst point of the COVID-19 pandemic, but warning of even more devastating times ahead, Los Angeles County health officials Wednesday reported record-shattering numbers of virus deaths, cases and hospitalizations that have the emergency medical system “under seige.”
The county Department of Public Health reported 138 additional Coronavirus fatalities, seven of which were reported Tuesday by health officials in Long Beach. The new deaths, the highest single-day number ever reported, lifted the countywide cumulative total to 8,568.
Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said average daily deaths from COVID-19 in the county have spiked up 267% since Nov. 9, reaching 44 per day as of last week, and likely even higher this week given the recent rising death figures. Ferrer said that equates to two people in the county dying from COVID-19 every hour.
Another 21,411 cases were also confirmed, marking another pandemic high, although about 7,000 of those cases were attributed to a reporting deadline from one of the county’s largest test-processing labs. As of Wednesday, the county had a cumulative total of 539,097 confirmed cases from throughout the pandemic.
The surge in cases has led to a critical situation at hospitals, with 4,656 COVID-19 patients currently admitted, at least the second day in a row that number has risen by about 200. About 21% of those patients, or roughly 978, are being treated in intensive-care units. County Health Services Director Christina Ghaly said hospitals are now averaging 600 Coronavirus admissions per day, up from about 500 last week. Based on current trends, hospitals could be admitting anywhere from 750 to 1,350 new COVID admissions per day by the end of December, she said.
“Our hospitals are under siege, and our model shows no end in sight,” Ghaly said, adding, “The worst is still before us.”
Ghaly reported that as of Wednesday, the county — which has about 10 million residents — had a total of 102 available and staffed intensive-care unit beds, and 814 general hospital beds. County hospitals combined have a total licensed capacity of about 2,500 ICU beds. Hospitals last week were operating a daily average of about 10,360 non-ICU beds.
The daily number of ICU and standard hospital beds operating in the county varies based on staffing available to treat patients in them.
Ghaly said that at the anticipated pace of hospital admissions, demand for ICU space could exceed the county’s 2,500-bed licensed capacity by as many as 1,000 patients within a month.
According to the state, the ICU capacity in the 11-county Southern California region dropped to 0.5% on Wednesday.
“There is simply a limit to the number of people who can safely receive intensive care services in our hospitals at any one time, even after everything has been done to expand the capacity and expand the ICUs,” Ghaly said, stressing that hospital staffing cannot keep up with the projected patient demand.
“The problem is not physical space. Setting up overflow capacity in non-hospital settings will not solve this problem,” she said.
Ghaly issued a warning for residents across the county who continue to resist public health protocols such as staying home, wearing masks and practicing physical distancing.
“If you don’t do everything possible to minimize spread (of the virus), then you are contributing to the spread and prolonging the amount of time in which our hospitals have more patients ... than they an safely handle,” she said. “The consequences of this will affect anyone and everyone who needs hospital-level care. It’s not just those with COVID. It will impact people who have a heart attack or a stroke and need services. Those who are in a car accident and need surgery. Those who have newly diagnosed cancer and need immediately chemotherapy in an in-patient setting.”
Ghaly and Ferrer both issued pleas for residents to re-think holiday plans that involve travel or gatherings with friends and family from different households. Ferrer noted that the
current county surge in cases, hospitalizations and deaths is a direct result of people ignoring health warnings over the Thanksgiving holiday, and warned that piling a Christmas surge on top of that will be catastrophic for the hospital system.
“We have learned a hard and painful lesson from our actions over Thanksgiving,” Ferrer said. “Please, let’s not repeat the same mistakes as we move into our next holiday season.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom noted Tuesday that the strain on hospital staffing across California prompted the state to temporarily lower the required staffing requirements in ICU units, from the normal one staffer for every two patients, down to one staffer for every three patients. The state also amended its quarantine requirements for health care workers exposed to the virus, lowering the mandate to just seven days, assuming the worker tests negative for the virus on day five or later of the quarantine.
The state has been grappling with soaring cases and hospitalizations since October. Most of the state’s residents are under stay-at-home orders because of dwindling intensive care unit capacity where they live.
The orders closes many types of businesses, including hair and nail sa
lons and movie theaters, and severely limit business operations for retailers. There also is an overnight curfew.
On Wednesday, state health officials announced the San Francisco Bay Area would join three of the state’s five regions already under state-mandated shutdowns as ICU available beds dropped below 15%. Many of the Bay Area counties had already applied the state’s order as a precaution and those that hadn’t must now do so on Thursday.
Dr. Marty Fenstersheib, testing director for Santa Clara County, the Bay Area’s most populous, said infections are topping 1,000 per day, compared with 300 in July.
Hospitals are filling up so fast in California that officials are rolling out mobile field facilities and scrambling to hire doctors and nurses. The state is distributing 5,000 body bags mostly to the hard-hit Los Angeles and San Diego areas and has 60 refrigerated trailers standing by as makeshift morgues in anticipation of more deaths.
Jeremy Zoch, chief executive at Providence St. Joseph Hospital of Orange, said nurses, respiratory therapists and housekeepers are taking extra shifts to keep up with rising cases. Registry and traveling nurses have come in to help, and officials are
talking to a nearby children’s hospital about using additional space to care for patients, he said.
As of Wednesday, the following areas reported COVID-19 cases and deaths:
• Palmdale: 11,254 cases and 102 deaths.
• Lancaster: 10,292 cases and 97 deaths (includes cases associated with correctional facility outbreaks).
• Lake Los Angeles: 700 cases and four deaths.
• Quartz Hill: 513 cases and 14 deaths.
• Sun Village: 407 cases and five deaths.
• Littlerock: 233 cases and one death.
• Littlerock/Pearblossom: 218 cases and one death.
• Acton: 188 cases and three deaths.
• Agua Dulce: 89 cases and no deaths.
• Littlerock/Juniper Hills: 49 cases and no deaths.
• Leona Valley: 47 cases and no deaths.
• Pearblossom/Llano: 45 cases and one death.
• Elizabeth Lake: 26 cases and no deaths.
• Llano: 22 cases and no deaths.
• Lake Hughes: 18 cases and no deaths.