LA Department of Public Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer said the latest increase creates a health care crisis and overwhelming hospital ICUs, adding that the current growth is linked to too many Southern Californians traveling and attending meetings. holiday.
Officials are again warning people not to travel and to gather for the next holidays.
“Every time you’re with others who aren’t in your household, it’s more likely now than ever before someone close to you becomes infected,” Ferrer said Monday in a briefing. “The only way for us to have a chance to stop growing is for all of us to stay home as long as possible and enjoy these holidays only with our immediate household.”
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The county director for health services, Dr. Christina Ghaly, said the level of transmission must be reduced.
“We absolutely need to avoid growth after an increase that could happen if people mix with others in the next holidays next week, like that,” she said.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has once again urged residents to stay home as long as possible, saying LA testing sites have served 3 million people and that the positivity rate at these sites is now a ” amazing ”of 20.58%.
The county registered on Monday 11,271 new COVID-19 cases, and the number of people currently hospitalized is 5,709 – 21% of them are in the ICU.
“Public health warns that without a change in the way we celebrate the winter holidays, Los Angeles County will experience an increase over an increase over an increase,” the county said. “Hospitals are already overcrowded and the high-quality care we are used to in LA County is beginning to be compromised because our healthcare workers are beyond the limit.”
Meanwhile, the county said it expects to receive 116,600 doses of Moderna vaccine in the first shipment, once this week.
City News Service contributed to this report.
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