Public Health Provides COVID-19 Vaccine Update as Hospitalizations Surpass 8,000 Patients

258 New Deaths and 11,841 New Confirmed Cases of COVID-19 in Los Angeles County

 

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) confirmed 258 new deaths and 11,841 new cases of COVID-19.  To date, Public Health identified 852,165 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County and a total of 11,328 deaths.

The rate of new cases this month is translating into a disastrous increase in the number of people with severe COVID-19 symptoms being sent to our local hospitals and, tragically, we are now seeing more than 200 deaths a day. People who were otherwise leading healthy, productive lives are now passing away because of a chance encounter with the COVID-19 virus.  This only ends when we each make the right decisions to protect each other.

There are 8,023 people with COVID-19 currently hospitalized and 20% of these people are in the ICU. On November 1, the three-day average number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 was 791.  On January 4, the three-day average increased to 7,873.  Hospitals are accepting more patients than they can discharge, and this is causing a huge strain on our emergency medical system.

Testing results are available for nearly 4,850,000 individuals with 17% of people testing positive.  On November 1, the test positivity rate was 3.8%. Today’s test positivity rate increased to 21.8%.  This is very significant because it means one in five people who are tested are carrying the COVID-19 virus and can expose others to this disease.

Public Health continues distributing and administering COVID-19 vaccinations.  As of Monday, a total of 185,250 doses of the Pfizer vaccine were received and 100,556 doses have been administered to our frontline health care workers at our acute care hospitals. Hospitals have also begun to administer the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine and as of today, 1,602 healthcare workers are fully vaccinated.

The County received 166,300 Moderna doses as of Monday, of which 31,915 have been administered to staff and residents at skilled nursing facilities to EMTs and paramedics, and to healthcare workers in clinics. This includes healthcare workers at urgent care and primary care clinics, at intermediate and home healthcare facilities and services, as well as healthcare field workers who face a high risk of exposure.  Now, after the holidays, the pace of vaccinations is picking up as we expand the number of people qualified to administer vaccines, and open additional locations to administer vaccines to priority group healthcare workers who don’t work at acute care hospitals.

This week, there are 18 vaccination sites open across the county for frontline health care workers with appointments.

In addition to the 18 vaccination sites, next week we will add an additional six to eight vaccination sites for healthcare workers in Tiers 1 and 2 if we receive enough vaccine in our allocations next week. Public Health is also working with pharmacies to utilize their staff to administer vaccines to priority groups. Efforts continue with our teams and our partners at Curative to vaccinate both staff and residents at skilled nursing facilities.  As of Monday, an estimated 11,680 staff and residents have been vaccinated at skilled nursing facilities.  The federal pharmacy program should begin vaccinating staff and residents at long-term care facilities next week. The County is committed to ensuring safety, efficiency and an equitable distribution of these important vaccines.

Currently, appointments at the 18 vaccination sites are being accepted only for healthcare workers at high or medium risk of COVID-19 exposure who work in specific settings.  These settings include:  Acute care hospitals; federally qualified health centers; home healthcare organizations; infusion and oncology centers; intermediate care facilities; residential or inpatient substance abuse and mental health facilities; urgent care clinics; primary care clinics, rural health centers and correctional facility clinics.

We understand there are a lot of people interested in getting vaccinated. However, we must proceed with administering vaccinations within the priority groups identified by the CDC with additional guidance provided by the State.  We understand that some people may feel they should be or are in these priority groups. However, there are clear definitions that we have posted on our website – these are very specific groups according to the priority tiers.

The County is in Phase 1A and making sure that frontline healthcare workers and residents at long-term care facilities are all offered vaccines.  Healthcare workers are prioritized since they need this protection to stay healthy and be able to care for everyone.  And medically fragile residents at long term care facilities need early access to vaccines to prevent the very high mortality rates experienced by residents in these facilities.  Vaccinating these priority groups should go through January.

We hope to begin vaccinating priority groups in Phase 1B in early February, assuming adequate supply of vaccine.  The state has identified two tiers in Phase 1B.  Tier 1 in Phase 1B includes: individuals 75 and older, and those at risk of exposure in education, childcare, emergency services and food and agriculture; Tier 2 in Phase 1B includes persons between the ages of 65 and 74, those at risk of exposure if you work in transportation and logistics; in industrial, commercial and residential and sheltering facilities and services; in critical manufacturing; and congregate settings with outbreak risk including homeless and incarcerated.   For Phase 1B we are planning for eligible priority groups to be able to go to registered primary care providers, pharmacy partners, or community vaccination sites.  And we hope we are able to move to Phase 1C, assuming adequate supply of vaccine, by late March, early April.

Of the 224 new deaths reported today, eighteen deaths were reported by the City of Long Beach.

“For everyone who has lost a friend, a co-worker, a loved one, a neighbor, we sincerely express our condolences.  Our prayers are with you and we are very sorry for your loss,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “This is a health crisis of epic proportions. I am more troubled than ever before, and in part, my concern is rooted in the reality that it will take so much more for us to slow the spread given the high rate of community spread. We know – and are very appreciative – that so many of you are doing the right thing. We are grateful for your perseverance, diligence and patience.  For the small number of people who either are not getting the message, or who are actively choosing to disregard it, we ask that you step up and do the right thing this month. In Los Angeles County, we have doubled the number of people passing away each day, and this reality has upended all aspects of our healthcare delivery system.  Our tragedy continues until we get it together to change our actions.  Each of us has a choice to make; we can protect and care for each other or we can exacerbate the desperate situation in front of us. I hope we move together to stop the surge.”

The Reopening Protocols, COVID-19 Surveillance Interactive Dashboard, Roadmap to Recovery, Recovery Dashboard, and additional things you can do to protect yourself, your family and your community are on the Public Health website, www.publichealth.lacounty.gov.

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