L.A. County COVID briefing happening. Ferrer and Solis both saying that the worst is yet to come.
Ferrer asking everyone returning to L.A. County after holiday travel to quarantine for 10 days after traveling and monitor their symptoms for 14 days. Quarantine includes remaining apart, having others buy your groceries, not preparing food for others, etc.
73 deaths, 13,661 cases, and 6,914 current hospitalizations reported today. 15% test positivity rate.
66,628 vaccine doses have been administered at acute care hospitals. 1,748 doses have been administered at skilled nursing facilities, both as of Dec. 26.
Beginning this week and next, the second tier of vaccination phase 1A will begin, which includes frontline home healthcare workers, private practices, COVID-19 testing staff (!!!!!) and other healthcare-adjacent employees.
Dr. Christina Ghaly speaking. There are 54 available ICU beds in L.A. County. Half of those are for pediatric patients. Hospitals all over are on diversion. Ambulances have nowhere to go. Patients are being cared for and treated in ambulances.
"The most concerning part of what we're facing is that as bad as it is, the worst is almost certainly yet to come," Dr. Ghaly says. She says the best thing we can do for our healthcare workers is to stay home.
They're on questions now, the L.A. Times asked about hospitals being low on oxygen. Ghaly says that hospitals are not experiencing a "general shortage" of oxygen, but one problem is having enough tanks for patients to be discharged w/ oxygen tanks.
Ghaly also says that another problem facing hospitals is aging infrastructure - with aging oxygen pipes, patients that require lots of oxygen are not able to get that high-pressure oxygen because the pipes just can't deliver it.
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