Residents of Los Angeles – be ready to take off your masks
The number of people positive for corona is soaring, as is the number of hospitalized people, and the district’s public health department has informed residents that the mandate to wear masks in closed places is expected to return soon
The rate of confirmed corona virus and the number of hospitalizations jumped dramatically in Los Angeles County, which on Thursday entered a moderate level of transmission in the community for the first time since the end of the micron wave in the summer.
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The number of hospitalizations is increasing so quickly that they are surprising the official medical officials, thus actually raising the possibility that the authorities will in the coming weeks bring back the mandate of wearing masks in closed places – this based on criteria previously established by public health officials.
By the numbers, the rate of confirmed cases in LA County has tripled since the end of October from what it was in the fall. According to Thursday’s data, the county recorded 2,710 cases per day, or 188 cases per week per 100,00 residents, which compared to the weekly rate of 60 per day in the fall.
In terms of the number of hospitalizations, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that 1,196 people were hospitalized in the week, which is three times the number recorded at the beginning of November. That’s 11.9 new weekly hospitalizations per 100,000 residents, where 10 weekly hospitalizations are enough to move the district to a medium community transfer level.
“These numbers clearly demonstrate that the corona virus is still with us,” said Barbara Ferrer, the county’s director of public health. “We feel that we are seeing a much faster acceleration than we want to see at this point.”
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If the load in the hospitals worsens, the province may return the mask mandate in closed public places. To get there, the rate of verified people needs to reach 200 per week per 100,000 inhabitants, which may happen as early as next week.
But before that, the percentage of hospital beds occupied by corona patients should also exceed 10%, and the current figure is 5.6%. At the beginning of November, by the way, the percentage was 2.
It should be noted that the death rate from Corona remains stable, around 60 per week. But if the cases continue to rise, so will the deaths.
Ferrer calmed things down a bit by saying that she does not expect the district to reach such hospitalization rates in the near future, but reserved: “I don’t think it will be next week, I would be very surprised… but hospitalizations are really rising very, very quickly, much faster than we usually see “.
“I’ll be honest,” Ferrer continued, “we’ve had more people than ever reporting positive corona tests to us after coming back from Thanksgiving. So there’s a big transmission going on.”
“I know no one is eager to hear this message from us, that we again need to protect each other, but if we want to do something to help our health system, we need to do it now. We need to make sure that we are able to do everything we can to reduce the number The people who will need a bed in the hospital.”
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