If you plan a meeting during the next holidays, county health officials say you should cancel it.
Gathering with family or friends outside your household could lead to an increase in COVID-19 in cases and hospitalizations, further straining a local critical health care system already close to capacity.
“I know how difficult this time of year is for so many of us. The holidays should be a time when we meet with family and friends. This year, things have to be different, ”said Wilma Wooten, MD, MPH, a county public health officer. “We know what happens when the holidays arrive and people gather. COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths are increasing dramatically. “
Since the availability of the bed for the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for the Southern California region fell below 15% and the Regional Home Stay Order came into force, the situation has continued to worsen.
The availability of the ICU bed is now zero. Hospitals in the region are overwhelmed, even after adding more beds for intensive care.
Here is what the region experienced in the weeks following Thanksgiving:
- 44% or about 59,400 of the nearly 146,000 cases since the beginning of the pandemic occurred after Thanksgiving.
- Of the more than 5,500 hospitalizations since the beginning of the pandemic, about 780 or 14% took place after Thanksgiving.
- Of the 1,350 deaths reported since the beginning of the pandemic, about 330 or 25% occurred after Thanksgiving. As deaths increase, the region is on track to record an additional 600 deaths by the end of January.
“We do not want to see what happened after Thanksgiving happen again. We just reported 39 deaths in one day. This is a new record, “said Wooten. “We need to stay out of control to control the spread of the virus. If not, cases, hospitalizations and deaths will continue to rise. “
COVID-19 vaccines available in the region:
- Total doses: 102,550 are available as of December 23, 2020.
- Pfizer: 29,250 doses; two doses given three weeks apart.
- Modern: 73,300 doses; two doses given every four weeks.
- The number of doses does not include federal, military and multi-county entities, such as Kaiser, as well as the partnership program for pharmacies.
ICU capacity and order of stay at home:
- The current ICU capacity for the Southern California region is now 0.0% and will be updated daily by the state.
- The Regional Stay Home Order is still in force and prohibits meetings of any size with people from other households and adds restrictions for several sectors.
- The order will last at least three weeks or until the capacity of the ICU region reaches or exceeds 15%. The order will be evaluated by the state after a period of three weeks.
Community outbreaks:
- 12 new community outbreaks were confirmed on December 22: three in business, two in the TK-12 school, one in a care / preschool / child care setting, one in a food setting, one in one health care framework, one in a medical setting a construction framework, one in emergency services, one in a food / beverage processing setting and one in government.
- In the last seven days (December 16 to December 22), 44 community outbreaks have been confirmed.
- The number of Community outbreaks remains above the trigger of seven or more in seven days.
- A community outbreak is defined as three or more cases of COVID-19 in a setting and in people from different households in the last 14 days.
testing:
- 31,036 tests were reported to the county on December 22, and the percentage of new cases confirmed by the laboratory was 8%.
- The average continuous 14-day percentage of positive cases is 9.7%. The target is less than 8.0%.
- The daily average of 7 days of tests is 28,806.
- People at higher risk of COVID-19 who are with or without symptoms should be tested. People with any symptoms should be tested. Nurses and essential workers should also receive a test, as well as people who have had close contact with a positive case or live in communities that are severely affected. Those who have recently returned from travel or who have attended holiday meetings are also urged to be tested.
Cases:
- 2,598 new cases were reported to the county on December 22. The total for the region is now 134,696.
- 5,524 or 4.1% of all cases required hospitalization.
- 1,160 or 0.9% of all cases and 21% of hospitalized cases had to be admitted to an intensive care unit.
deaths:
- 39 new COVID-19 deaths were reported to the county on December 22, a new record. The total for the region is now 1,350.
- 20 men and 19 women died between December 9 and December 22, and their ages ranged from the mid-1940s to the mid-1990s.
- All but two had underlying medical conditions.
More information:
More detailed summaries of the data found on County website coronavirus-sd.com are updated daily around 17:00.