The COVID-19 surge still affecting Central California is so dire that health officials are pleading with state officials to make it easier to transfer hospital patients to areas like Los Angeles County.
Vaccination rates are still relatively low, and in Fresno County, the region’s most populous county, the COVID-19 hospitalization rate is quadruple what is being seen in L.A. & Orange counties, & more than quintuple that of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Hospitals are consistently operating above capacity, and ERs are so packed that ambulances are stuck waiting outside hospitals to drop off patients, said Dale Dotson, operations coordinator for the Central California Emergency Medical Services Agency.
Some hospitals are so crowded that ambulance patients suffering from strokes or cardiac-type symptoms are diverted to different facilities than typical to ensure that there’s enough staff available to take care of them when they arrive.
Officials from the San Joaquin Valley are pleading with California state officials to find a way to make it easier to transfer hospital patients to other, less impacted areas.
A big test of the late fall and early winter will be the weeks following Thanksgiving, when officials will be looking at COVID-19 numbers closely to see if a surge emerges from gatherings from the holiday weekend.
While some places in California with low vaccination rates might not yet be seeing a surge, they may see one develop as the weather cools, sending people indoors, where transmission spreads more efficiently.
In a historic vote, the Orange County Board of Supervisors on Monday created a majority-Latino district for the first time while also giving power to Asian voters.
The lines for the supervisors’ districts, redone once a decade after the national census, have long been drawn in a way that makes it hard for Latinos to be elected, despite the ethnic group’s rapid growth.
With 11 nominations across seven categories that span genre, composition and medium, the Jan. 30 ceremony could end up being Batiste’s very own variety show. latimes.com/entertainment-…
Batiste has already enjoyed a fruitful year at awards shows, pulling down a Golden Globe and an Oscar for “Soul,” which he shared with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. latimes.com/entertainment-…
Shi’s bills at a Beverly Hills “lifestyle design” business that advises clients on wardrobe, cosmetics and high-end shopping hit nearly $800,000.
A travel concierge service that caters to the jet set charged her $2.2 million for trips around the world. latimes.com/california/sto…
Those trappings of the high life were gone when Shi, 37, shuffled into a federal courtroom in Los Angeles one recent afternoon wearing a beige jail jumpsuit with clanking chains dangling from her wrist and ankle shackles. latimes.com/california/sto…
Organized retail theft is nothing new. Over the last few years, rings have targeted Rolex watches and Apple products at multiple locations.
But a weekend in which high-end stores were hit by seemingly sophisticated rings has generated national attention. latimes.com/california/sto…
On Friday night, thieves smashed a Louis Vuitton storefront window in San Francisco and ransacked the store.
On Saturday night, some 80 people raided a Nordstrom in nearby Walnut Creek. Two employees were assaulted, one of them pepper sprayed. latimes.com/california/sto…
And just after midnight Sunday, criminals smashed storefront windows at a Louis Vuitton and Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills, police said.
Late Monday, another group attempted to break into the Nordstrom at the Grove shopping center. latimes.com/california/sto…
After investigating its own COVID-19 testing lab for much of the year, the California Department of Public Health closed its case without issuing sanctions.
Documents show California inspectors raised alarms earlier this year about whether staff were properly trained, how the lab was reporting its own processing errors and whether protocols that reduce the chances of contamination were being followed latimes.com/california/sto…
The Newsom administration promised a full report in March on “significant deficiencies” found during inspections, but it was not released until Monday — weeks after the state renewed its $1.7-billion, no-bid contract to keep the testing site going.