LA County reports highest daily COVID-19 death total amid concerns of new variant
KABC
LOS ANGELES (KABC) Los Angeles County reported its highest single-day total of COVID-19 deaths Tuesday, attributing the spike in part to a backlog in reporting from the holiday weekend, with hundreds more fatalities likely to be confirmed in the coming days.
The county Department of Public Health confirmed a record-breaking 227 coronavirus-related fatalities Tuesday, pushing the county closer the grim 10,000-death mark. Long Beach, which has its own health department separate from the county, also reported a single-day high number of deaths, 22, but indicated the number reflects a two-day total dating back to Sunday.
At L.A. hospital, there are so many COVID-19 patients some are being put in the gift shop
To make room for all of the COVID-19 patients at Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital in Los Angeles, staffers have found a way to get more people inside for treatment: They are placing their gurneys inside the gift shop, chapel, and conference room.
Already, there are five tents outside of the hospital to help with overflow. Dr. Elaine Batchlor, the hospital s CEO, told CNN workers have been incredibly adept and flexible in accommodating increasing numbers of patients, but if the pace keeps up, they will have to start contemplating whether to ration care. This, she said, is something we really just loathe having to even think about.
UpdatedMon, Dec 28, 2020 at 5:21 pm PT
Replies(20) Ventilator tubes are attached to a COVID-19 patient at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in the Mission Hills section of Los Angeles. Hospitals across California have all but run out of intensive care beds for COVID-19 patients. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
LOS ANGELES, CA As overrun Los Angeles County hospitals turned cafeterias and conference rooms into medical-care space, countless Southland families gathered for holiday celebrations over the weekend, ensuring that the coronavirus crisis won t abate anytime soon.
Over the weekend, some Los Angeles County hospitals were forced to close their doors to ambulance traffic for 12 hours at a time and patients in critical need of oxygen waited as long as 18 hours for help breathing the Los Angeles Times reported. The surge of new coronavirus cases is well beyond regional hospital capacity in terms of staffing, supplies and space.
December has been the worst month of the COVID-19 pandemic in California.
But January is expected to be grim as well.
Officials are bracing for more COVID-19 hospitalizations as people who participated in holiday gatherings or travel and became infected with the coronavirus begin falling ill.
Dr. Ro