As the number of Covid-19 hospitalizations continued its record ascent in Los Angeles County on Tuesday, 30% of the respondents to a recent survey indicated they had visited a friend, neighbor or relative or had visitors at their residence. The survey was conducted by the University of Southern California’s Center for Social and Economic Research, which does a weekly representative survey of L.A. County residents about their actions through the pandemic.
The county’s current health officer order explicitly prohibits such actions: “All public and private gatherings and events with individuals not in your household are prohibited except for church services and protests.”
If the USC survey is representative of L.A. County residents at large, more than 3,000,000 of them are not following the safety guidance that directs residents to not gather with people outside our immediate household. That despite months of pleas from local, state and national public health officials.
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“If you’re still out there shopping for your loved ones for this holiday season or you’re planning a holiday get-together, then you are missing the gravity of the situation that is affecting hospitals across Los Angeles County and California and this nation,” county Health Services Director Dr. Christina Ghaly said Monday. “People are very sick in the hospitals. They are dying there.
“Though they may seem benign, these actions are extremely high-risk,” said Ghaly, “and we ask that everyone do everything they can to avoid spreading the virus to avoid prolonging the surge and avoid increasing the number of deaths that families across our county will experience in the days and weeks to come.”
Recent data shows this Christmas season is shaping up to be the busiest travel window of the pandemic. Given that, it does not seem people are getting the message.
Los Angeles County tragically surpassed 9,000 confirmed COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday. L.A. County has experienced more than 1,000 COVID-19 deaths in just two weeks. This is an average of nearly 73 Covid-related deaths per day over the past two weeks. On Tuesday, 88 new deaths were confirmed, bringing the total to 9,016 lives lost because of the pandemic. The county also identified 12,954 new cases of Covid-19.
COVID-19 Daily Update:
December 22, 2020
New Cases: 12,954 (647,542 to date)
New Deaths: 88 (9,016 to date)
Current Hospitalizations: 5,866 pic.twitter.com/Vj6LXE8Xg5— LA Public Health (@lapublichealth) December 23, 2020
There are 5,866 people with Covid-19 currently hospitalized in L.A. and 20% of those patients are in the ICU. The number of people now hospitalized with Covid-19 is a new high. Tuesday’s daily hospitalization count has increased by more than 2,700 daily patients from two weeks ago.
According to the state, available ICU capacity in Southern California is 0%.
