“I want to thank the many people who made today possible starting with the scientists and researchers who have shown incredible diligence and ingenuity under the most pressing circumstances, the volunteers who participated in the clinical trials, the production teams who found ways to quickly manufacture this life-saving vaccine, and the transportation teams who have managed the crucial work of getting the vaccine to facilities across the country so that vaccinations can begin immediately,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health.
She continued, “And to all the public health practitioners at federal, state, and local health departments, thank you for the 24/7 work to ensure the safe and equitable distribution of this vaccine across every community. Because it is likely to take a few months to have enough vaccine available to immunize the millions of individuals who live and work in L.A. County, in the meantime, we all must continue to remain extremely diligent in reducing transmission of the virus.”
Los Angeles County, like most across the nation, are in a holding pattern as they wait for the COVID-19 vaccine. According to the L.A. County Department of Public Health website, 9 shipments of the vaccine arrived Monday and were distributed amongst pre-positioned sites. It was stated the initial allocation of the vaccine in L.A. County is 82,875 doses with two additional allocations expected with the month. This does not include allocations for the cities of Long Beach and Pasadena, which have their own independent health departments and are receiving their own allocations.
Those nine prepositioned locations are working with the L.A. County Dept. of Public Health and EMS to deliver the vaccine to acute care hospitals that serves COVID-19 patients. Public Health has hosted webinars, held office hours, and is distributing information to prepare acute care hospitals for the large endeavor ahead. A second allocation of the vaccine will arrive later in the month for a distribution to all health care personnel and residents at nursing facilities, along with continued distribution to frontline healthcare and EMS personnel.
As of Monday, December 14, the L.A. County Dept. of Public Health confirmed 48 new deaths and 7,344 new cases of COVID-19.
There were 4,203 people with COVID-19 hospitalized with 21% of these people in the ICU. Since the beginning of the surge in November, cases have increased 625% with younger people being the largest source of transmission in the county. More than 70% of cases are from people under the age of 50-years-old. Residents over 80-years-old have the highest rates of hospitalization among all age groups in L.A. County followed by residents 65 to 79-years-old, and residents 50 to 64-years-old.
Due to the recent surge in cases, there has been an increase in cases among healthcare workers. Over the last two weeks, it’s been reported there are 3,400 new cases among healthcare workers. In early November, it was stated there were 40 new cases among healthcare workers a day; last week there were nearly 250 cases among healthcare workers a day.
As of Monday, December 14, Public Health identified 532,730 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County and a total of 8,345 deaths.
Laboratory confirmed total cases show 532,730 with Los Angeles County showing 507,226 cases, Long Beach with 20,697 cases and Pasadena with 4,807. By race and ethnicity, COVID-19 statistics show: American Indian/Alaska Native with 740; Asian with 17,475; Black with 15,834; Hispanic/Latino with 207,749; Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander with 1,682; White with 47,630; those of other race and ethnicity with 51,058 and 165,058 under investigation.
Dr. Ferrer had this to share about the recent surge of COVID-19 and residents who refuse to comply with the temporary restrictions, “We continue to see extremely high numbers of new cases, hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19 – the surge we are experiencing is alarming. If you are not playing by the rules, to be blunt, you are part of the problem, and at this point, you are contributing to these distressing increases in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths.”
For more information and statistics on COVID-19 in Los Angeles County, please visit http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/
