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]]>The next two weeks are shaping up to be critical for California as officials wait to see if the sweeping restrictions imposed in late June and July show any signs of slowing the rapid spread of coronavirus in communities across the state.
This week was marked by a series of grim milestones as California shattered a one-day record for new coronavirus cases — more than 11,000 on Tuesday — as well as rising infection rates and growing numbers of hospitalizations. Because the coronavirus can take weeks to incubate, much of the current surge is still tied to people exposed to the virus in June, as counties rapidly reopened the economy and many returned to old but now dangerous routines such as bar-hopping and attending parties and other social events. Many also returned to workplaces that didn’t implement new safety protocols.
The big question now is whether Californians changed their behavior enough in July to reduce infection rates. Officials began raising alarms in the days before the July 4 holiday and over the last few weeks have closed bars, indoor dining, shopping malls, gyms and other retail establishments in many areas.
“It’s kind of in everybody’s hands right now,” said Barbara Ferrer, director of public health for L.A. County. “We don’t have a lot of time, though. At some point, you turn that corner where you’re actually expecting hospitals to provide way more care than is possible.”
On June 28, Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered bars shut in L.A. County and several others, and a day later, Ferrer warned of “alarming increases in cases, positivity rates and hospitalization.” By July 1, Newsom ordered indoor restaurant dining and bars closed in 19 counties, affecting 72% of the state’s population.
It has been about two weeks since then, but it’ll take at least three weeks to learn whether the actions taken that week decisively changed the course of the pandemic, said Dr. Christina Ghaly, director of health services for Los Angeles County. Ghaly said Wednesday that if people got back to safer behavior — staying home as much as possible, avoiding social gatherings, wearing face coverings, keeping physical distance and workplaces following new safety protocols — L.A. County could avoid having hospitals and ICUs overwhelmed.
Even more businesses have shut down this week, with Newsom ordering the closure of all bars and indoor dining rooms at restaurants. And in the hardest-hit counties that are home to more than 88% of Californians, he also closed indoor operations of gyms, places of worship, hair salons, nail salons, malls, tattoo parlors, bowling alleys, arcades and offices for nonessential industries.
If one thing is clear, officials across the state said, it’s now up to residents and businesses to do their best to slow the spread of disease. The percentage of younger adults getting infected with the coronavirus is growing, and younger adults are now making up a larger share of hospitalized COVID-19 patients, making up nearly 30% of them in L.A. County.
“Birthday parties, the visits with grandparents … the barbecues: they are contributing to a delay or rollback in reopening of businesses,” said Dr. Grant Colfax, San Francisco’s public health director.
California on Tuesday recorded its highest number of new cases in a single day, 11,142 infections; Tuesday also marked the second-highest number of deaths in a single day statewide, with 144 deaths tallied, according to the Los Angeles Times’ California coronavirus tracker.
On Wednesday, at least another 8,000 new coronavirus cases and more than 125 deaths were reported statewide.
There have been a cumulative total of more than 354,000 confirmed cases and more than 7,300 deaths related to the coronavirus statewide. Of them, more than 143,000 cases and more than 3,900 deaths have occurred among L.A. County residents.
More than 6,700 people with confirmed coronavirus infections were in the hospital statewide Tuesday. That’s more than double the daily average in May, when there were about 3,000 people hospitalized statewide with confirmed infections.
In L.A. County, officials estimated that the effective transmission rate of the coronavirus has risen slightly to 1.07, according to data released Wednesday, although the actual number could be anywhere from 0.94 to 1.2. That means officials estimate that on average, every 1 person infected with the virus transmits it to 1.07 other people.
San Francisco on Wednesday reported an even worse transmission rate of about 1.3.
“The virus is not only still out there, it is out there more than ever before,” said Colfax, the city’s public health director. “If we do not do better, we are looking at major problems by late August and September, with an average peak of 900 hospitalized patients by early October” — a number 10 times as bad as what the city is seeing now.
Colfax said it’s “certainly possible” that if conditions do not improve, officials may need to roll back reopening efforts in San Francisco and the greater Bay Area.
With evidence mounting about the disproportionate impact the pandemic is having on Latino and Black communities, L.A. County officials Wednesday announced plans to expand testing where it’s most needed.
Officials announced they will open six new testing sites in communities of color — Montebello, South Gate, Azusa, Panorama City, Compton and the Downey-Norwalk area. And they will add capacity at four existing sites in Bellflower, Pomona, El Monte and East Los Angeles.
An astonishing 89% of people testing positive for the coronavirus at a site in Willowbrook, south of Watts, have been Latino, even though 71% of those who were tested identified themselves Latino, said Dr. Erika Flores Uribe, an emergency room physician and the director of language access and inclusion at the county’s health services department.
The result is close to that of a study in San Francisco’s Mission District, in which 95% of people testing positive for the coronavirus were Latino.
Furthermore, Latino residents are testing positive at a much higher rate than any other racial or ethnic group in Los Angeles County, a trend that has been constant for months, said Ghaly, the L.A. County health services director.
Latino residents are testing positive at a much higher rate than any other racial or ethnic group in Los Angeles County
(Los Angeles County Department of Health Services)
The disparity could be reflective of white residents having less risk of being exposed to the coronavirus.
White residents are less likely to live in crowded households or work in essential jobs that require employees to leave home to earn money, Ghaly said. The disparity in the so-called positivity rate could also reflect greater access to and use of testing resources by white residents.
“Sadly, the underlying reasons why communities of color are disproportionately impacted by the worst outcomes of COVID-19 is related to longstanding structural and systemic issues, including social determinants of health that the county is working to address and mitigate in the midst of this pandemic,” Ghaly said.
Poverty also increases the risk of testing positive.
Poverty also increases the risk of testing positive. In communities with the highest poverty rates, more than 15% of coronavirus tests had results confirming infection; in the wealthiest neighborhoods, less than 8% of tests came back positive.
(Los Angeles County Department of Health Services)
“This reflects, again, the burden that our low income communities face in terms of their exposure to the virus, and also the fact that they were not — and still are not — accessing testing at an appropriate level given their degree of burden,” Ghaly said.
To figure out where the county should add testing sites, officials did an analysis to create a map of areas of L.A. County that had the greatest need for more coronavirus testing, based off of factors like the positivity rate, the coronavirus mortality rate, and the rate at which residents are accessing testing services.
The results showed portions of South Los Angeles, Southeast L.A. County, the San Gabriel Valley, the Pomona Valley, the San Fernando Valley and the Antelope Valley needed greater access to testing.
L.A. County officials released a map showing areas (in red) in highest need of additional resources to test for the coronavirus.
(Los Angeles County Department of Health Services)
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]]>The post L.A. at ‘critical juncture’ as COVID-19 cases spike appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>Conditions continued to deteriorate in many parts of California on Wednesday with a surge of new coronavirus cases as well as a troubling rise in COVID-19 deaths.
The state recorded its highest single-day coronavirus death toll Wednesday, with 149 fatalities reported, according to a Los Angeles Times county-by-county tally. That eclipsed the previous highest daily death toll, 132, recorded May 19, according to The Times’ California coronavirus tracker.
Los Angeles County recorded its worst daily coronavirus death toll in at least a month, which may be the result of increased disease transmission that probably began around Memorial Day as the economy reopened and people began going to social gatherings and dining out.
The county’s single-day death toll of 61 was the highest since June 2, when 62 deaths were reported.
“Our cases are rising. The rate of infection is increasing. And the number of hospitalizations are up. And today, we’re even seeing a small increase in the number of deaths,” Barbara Ferrer, the Los Angeles County director of public health, said Wednesday.
Ferrer said the county stands at a “critical juncture” with people fed up with the stay-at-home order trying to return to a pre-pandemic way of life. That has contributed to the increased spread of the disease in Southern California, she said.
“We’re entering a phase in which we’re seeing community spread and hospitalizations like we saw in late April, and what we hoped would be the height of infection here in L.A. County,” she said.
“Tragically, we do expect that more of our loved ones and neighbors may die of COVID-19 in the coming weeks with all of the increases we’re seeing with hospitalizations.”
Ferrer added: “Even though we miss the way it used to be, it’s still not safe or smart to visit with friends or family we don’t live with.”
When the county began reopening businesses and protests erupted over the death of George Floyd, officials encouraged all residents to get tested for the virus, especially if they had been at a protest or other large gathering. But in recent weeks, the county has not been able to meet the high demand for testing.
Now, rather than encouraging widespread testing, health officials are asking individuals to get tested only if they have symptoms, work in high-risk environments or have come into contact with a person with a known exposure. At the same time, officials are trying to add additional county-funded testing sites and increase appointments at existing sites to keep up with demand.
“This is the type of testing that is critical for public health purposes to be able to trace contacts and identify those who might transmit the virus to others,” said Dr. Christina Ghaly, L.A. County’s director of health services. “If you are exposed to someone with a known infection, then you need to quarantine yourself for 14 days. This is irrespective of whether or not you got a test and even if the test is negative.”
Orange County, which has the third-highest number of coronavirus cases in the state and the fourth-most deaths, is also grappling with a surge in infections and hospitalizations in recent weeks.
The county’s positivity rate, which health officials use to gauge whether case numbers are increasing because of more testing or because there’s more disease spreading within the community, was under 8% over a seven-day period in mid-May. As of Tuesday, the county had a case rate of 222 per 100,000 residents and a positive test rate of 14.2%, according to county health data.
The state has set a desired standard average of 25 positive cases per 100,000 over a 14-day period and a seven-day average positive test rate of 8%.
The coronavirus outbreak is worsening throughout the state, with 9,500 infections recorded Tuesday — the most new cases reported in a single day since the pandemic began — and triple-digit fatalities that sent the statewide death toll past 6,500.
California cases are on pace to double every 24.8 days, a number that is used by experts to measure how quickly the virus is spreading.
Over the last week, there have been an average of 7,403 new coronavirus infections and 69.6 new deaths per day, according to data from The Times’ coronavirus tracker. With cases continuing to climb and hospitalization numbers increasing, counties across the state have been forced to roll back business reopenings to stem the spread of the virus.
On Wednesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom added Napa, Yolo and San Benito counties to the state’s watch list because of their rising case counts and increased hospitalizations. If the counties remain on the list for three or more consecutive days, the state will require them to close bars and indoor dining in restaurants, along with other indoor business operations, for at least three weeks. There are now 26 of California’s 58 counties on the list.
While San Francisco has not appeared on the watch list, county and city officials this week opted to delay loosening restrictions on businesses, including indoor dining at restaurants, which were scheduled to resume next week. The city previously had suspended the reopening of hair salons, zoos, museums and outdoor bars.
San Francisco County had 4,071 recorded cases of the coronavirus and 50 deaths as of Wednesday morning.
“We know the pause on reopening is disappointing, but we cannot risk letting the virus get out of control,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed said. “We all need to do our part by wearing face coverings, keeping your distance from others, and getting tested so we can get to a place where we can safely resume reopening.”
Meanwhile, the California state Senate on Wednesday joined the Assembly in deciding not to return from its summer recess next week, citing the continued spread of the coronavirus, which has now infected several staffers and members in the Legislature.
No new return date was given in the notice sent to lawmakers Wednesday by Erika Contreras, the secretary of the Senate.
Times staff writer Ryan Murphy contributed to this report.
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]]>The post Coronavirus at ‘critical juncture’ as hospitalizations soar appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>The number of people hospitalized with coronavirus in California has jumped 56% in the last two weeks, an alarming sign of how rapidly COVID-19 is spreading and the intense pressure it’s putting on the state’s medical infrastructure.
Coronavirus cases have surged over the past weeks, hitting four daily records in the last two weeks and prompting officials to order the shut down of indoor restaurants and bars in much of the state. There is growing concern over the July 4 weekend because officials fear social gatherings could bring even more outbreaks.
The number of people hospitalized with confirmed coronavirus infection hit 5,196 Tuesday across the state. Just a week ago, there were 4,047 people in hospitals, and a week before that, there were 3,337.
Some counties, including San Bernardino and Riverside, say their hospitals are close to surge capacity, and officials were prepared to open additional overflow facilities as more patients need care.
Los Angeles County has not eclipsed its highest daily total of confirmed COVID-19 hospitalizations, which crested on April 28 with 1,962 patients, but it’s getting close: On Tuesday, there were 1,893 patients with confirmed infections in L.A. County hospitals; two weeks earlier, there were 1,429.
“L.A. County’s really at a critical juncture in the pandemic,” said Barbara Ferrer, the L.A. County public health director.
Coronavirus testing is becoming a growing challenge in Los Angeles and beyond.
As of Wednesday, there were no available appointments at county- or city-run test sites. Officials had warned that testing would be limited this week due to the upcoming holiday weekend, but in recent weeks, getting a test has already proved to be a challenge. Last week, appointment slots filled up amid officials’ ongoing calls for residents to get tested.
Dr. Christina Ghaly, L.A. County’s director of health services, said Wednesday that the demand for testing has increased and that more slots would be added Friday. The county plans to expand testing to areas most affected by the virus, and Ghaly said individuals who have symptoms, work in high-risk settings or have come into contact with someone known to be positive are most in need of testing.
If someone experiencing any of those factors cannot get tested through the county- or city-run sites, Ghaly encouraged them not to wait and to instead contact their medical provider.
“This is a time for universal caution,” she said.
Over the last seven days, 6.4% of coronavirus tests came back confirming infections across California; a week ago, only 5.6% of tests came back positive; and the week before that, 4.6% of tests confirmed infections.
The rate at which coronavirus tests came back positive were even higher in L.A. County; it’s now at 8.4%, in comparison to 4.6% in late May.
L.A. County officials Wednesday announced 32 additional coronavirus-related deaths and more than 1,700 new cases for the fourth day in a row. In a change in policy for gyms, staff and customers at fitness facilities will now be required to wear cloth face coverings and gloves at all times.
As several clusters of cases have been linked to gatherings, officials have encouraged people not to congregate in crowded or confined settings and not to meet up with people outside your household over the holiday weekend.
Despite the fact that people are ignoring the county order and gathering, Ferrer said there are no immediate plans to offer guidance for how people can more safely mingle with people outside their households in so-called social bubbles, as has been done in some Northern California communities.
That said, Ferrer added that county officials are preparing guidance documents for when people can safely mix again. But at this point, officials are focusing on the need for people to minimize exposure.
“Unfortunately, our numbers, actually, at this point in time, really warrant us not to get into these expanded bubbles,” Ferrer said. “I would really encourage people to get back into your household bubble, at least for the next couple of weeks. We’re really at a pivotal point.”
She added: “If we can’t find a way to minimize our exposures … we will continue to see the rise in cases. We’ve got to do something right now to get us back to a more level ground.”
In Orange County, officials announced bars will be forced to shut down again beginning at midnight Thursday.
But there remains debate about how many beaches will be opened during the July 4th weekend. Laguna Beach officials voted Tuesday to close city-operated beaches. The city had previously canceled its fireworks show in an effort to thin crowds but took the issue a step further after Los Angeles County closed its beaches and residents began expressing concerns over a possible influx of beachgoers.
Newport Beach is putting its beaches under a hard closure on the Fourth of July after two lifeguards have tested positive for COVID-19. Twenty-three colleagues are in quarantine. One of them is showing symptoms and hasn’t been tested yet. Seal Beach has also ordered its beach and related facilities closed. Huntington Beach was still deciding whether to keep its shores open.
Ventura County also closed beaches for the holiday.
Times Community News reporter Hillary Davis contributed to this report.
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]]>The post Hey, NBC News, You Buried This Crucial Detail in Your Article About Hydroxychloroquine appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>— Heidi Przybyla (@HeidiNBC) April 16, 2020
A New York lady with coronavirus signs died last week after being recommended a drug cocktail with recognized cardiac side results, and household members state she was not checked for COVID-19 or for heart issues before getting the medication.
[…]
In early April, Ligia, a 65- year-old Queens local, was offered the drug by her general specialist after she reported having a bad cough, fever and shortness of breath.
Levitt acknowledged that the family does not understand that the drug caused Ligia’s death.
The liberal media is rooting against America, this administration, and possible treatment. Why? They desire more dead bodies to use as political ammo versus this presidency.
Editor’s Note: Wish to support Townhall so we can keep informing the reality about China and the infection they released on the world? Sign Up With Townhall VIP and use the discount code WUHAN to get 25%off VIP membership!
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