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Friday, December 18, 2020
The death rate is rising disproportionately among Black, Latino and Asian L.A. County residents.
There are 5,100 coronavirus patients hospitalized in L.A. County, the highest number since the pandemic began. Nurses are expressing concern over a worsening nurse-to-patient ratio. — CBS Los Angeles
Yesterday, Southern California hit 0% ICU hospital bed availability and reported 14,418 new cases. — LAist, Deadline
Death rates for Black, Latino and Asian Angelenos are rising as L.A.’s spike continues. — L.A. Times
A complaint against the Long Beach Police Department alleges that they hosted a superspreader event by bringing hundreds of officers together for an indoor training session. — KTLA
Orange County health officials have suspended ambulance diversion due to the high volume of incoming patients across all hospitals in the region, meaning that hospitals are no longer allowed to request that emergency patients be diverted to another medical center. — CBS Los Angeles
Thursday, December 17, 2020
1 in 80 Angelenos May Currently Have COVID-19
A new plan by the L.A. City Council is considering a pay increase for local grocery store workers.
Experts estimate that with the current COVID-19 spike, approximately one in 80 people in L.A. County currently have the virus. — NBC Los Angeles
Unions representing nurses, teachers and grocery store and hotel workers asked the L.A. County Board of Supervisors to enact a four-week lockdown in January to protect employees’ safety. — FOX Los Angeles
A study of sewage samples in Silicon Valley revealed that the current wave of infections is far worse than any previous spike in 2020. — KTLA
Comunidad Cesar Chavez, an emergency shelter in Boyle Heights, is hosting drive-thru blanket drives. — ABC Los Angeles
Members of the L.A. City Council introduced a plan that requires grocery stores with fewer than 300 employees to pay staff an additional $5 per hour, known as “hero pay.” — ABC Los Angeles
Wednesday, December 16, 2020
ICU Availability Dips to 1.7% in L.A. County
Construction on a mobile field hospital in Orange County could begin as early as next week.
California and Los Angeles County continue to report record-high coronavirus case rates. Today, L.A. County announced 131 deaths — the highest number ever reported — and 21,411 new cases, about 7,000 of which were part of a backlog. Intensive care capacity is 1.7%. — CBS Los Angeles, KTLA
As L.A. hospitals receive their vaccine shipments today and tomorrow, medical staff prepare to administer shots to as many as 500 people a day. — ABC Los Angeles
In Orange County, at least three hospitals have requested that a mobile field hospital be set up to assist with the COVID-19 surge. — NBC Los Angeles
A recent study published by USC reveals how low-income residents in L.A. have been impacted by food insecurity since the start of the pandemic. — USC Dornsife
Tuesday, December 15, 2020
L.A. County Down to Less Than 100 ICU Beds
Hospitalizations continue to rise as L.A. County hospitals prepare to store and distribute the Pfizer vaccine.
L.A. County has fewer than 100 ICU beds available. The total number of hospitalizations in the county is 4,203. In terms of infections, the highest number of COVID-19 cases are among those ages 18-29 and 30-49. — KTLA, Pasadena Star-News
California is taking legal action against Amazon over concerns of poor workplace conditions — specifically, a lack of employee protections against the coronavirus. — CBS Los Angeles
City officials are suing an underground nightclub in the Fashion District for violating health orders in order to host crowded events. — L.A. Times
This week, the Los Angeles Unified School District announced that students will not receive failing grades this semester. Officials estimate that in-person schooling will likely not return until summer 2021. — ABC Los Angeles
More than 6.3 million Californians, or 16% of the state population, have already signed up for the new CA Notify phone alert system that debuted last week. — The San Diego Union-Tribune
Mobile COVID-19 testing teams will be deployed to East San Fernando Valley and South Los Angeles, where Black and brown residents are facing disproportionate positive case rates. — CBS Los Angeles
Multiple well-known restaurants in L.A. had to close temporarily due to COVID-19 outbreaks among staff. — Eater Los Angeles
Nine L.A. County hospitals are preparing to store shipments of the Pfizer vaccine. They will also be responsible for shipping vaccines out to 83 acute-care hospitals. — Patch
Monday, December 14, 2020
L.A. Nurses Among the First Vaccinated in California
The first shipment of the COVID-19 vaccine will be largely allocated to frontline health care workers.
The first shipment of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine has arrived in California, and this afternoon, the first health care workers were vaccinated at an L.A. County hospital. Yesterday was the first day since the pandemic began that more than 4,000 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in L.A. County. The county will attempt to vaccinate 6 million people over the next six months. — FOX Los Angeles, CBS Los Angeles, The Antelope Valley Times
While health officials estimate that the first vaccine shipment will cover about 2.5% of L.A. County residents, Mayor Eric Garcetti is urging Angelenos to follow pandemic protocols throughout what will be a lengthy rollout. — KTLA
Over the last week, California’s COVID-19 cases rose 53.8%, with 211,235 new cases reported. L.A. County accounted for a majority of the new cases. — Desert Sun
Caseloads have grown so large for L.A. County public defenders that some are falling ill to stress while representing as many as 70 people at a time. — KTLA