From KTLA 5 News Los Angeles:

With caveat about weekend reporting lag, L.A. County announces ‘relatively low’ number of new coronavirus cases

by: Nouran Salahieh, with reporting by Cindy Von Quednow

Posted: Apr 13, 2020 / 12:49 PM PDT / Updated: Apr 13, 2020 / 03:50 PM PDT

Los Angeles County recorded 239 new coronavirus cases Monday, representing the lowest one-day increase in over two weeks as the number of cases climbed to 9,420 with 320 deaths in the nation’s most populous county.

“That’s a good thing,” the county’s public health director Dr. Barbara Ferrer said, also noting that testing is limited on weekends and therefore less cases are usually reported on Mondays.

Though Monday’s increase represents the smallest rise in known cases since March 26, and numbers have been “pretty steady” over the past week, Ferrer said it’s still unclear if the number of cases is starting to plateau in the county.

“Though we reported a relatively low number of new cases today, I want to be only cautiously optimistic because, always on Mondays, we have a lag because of the lab reporting issues and lack of testing that happens over the weekends,” Ferrer said.

Officials reported another 25 deaths Monday, 11 of them were people aged 65 and older and all had underlying health conditions. Twelve of them were between the ages of 41 and 65, and 11 of those people had underlying health conditions, according to the L.A. County Department of Public Health.

Based on preliminary information on some deaths where race and ethnicity were recorded, 14% were African American, 18% Asian, 33% Latinx, 33% white and 2% were listed as other, according to Ferrer.

The county recorded 31 new deaths on Sunday— the largest one-day jump in COVID-19 deaths so far in L.A. County.

The mortality rate from COVID-19 jumped to 3.4% in the county Monday. Ferrer noted that the rate can increase while the number of new cases confirmed drops since those who die oftentimes spend weeks in the hospital battling the respiratory illness, and so the deaths may not necessarily represent new infections.

“This will be a critical week again to see if we maintain a steady number,” she said.

So far, almost 52,00 people have been tested for the coronavirus in at L.A. County, with 13% testing positive.

Even as the county has ramped up testing after a slow start, opening up more drive-up sites and laboratories, Ferrer said the county’s capacity remains limited, with about 5,000 to 6,000 people tested each day. This makes it harder to predict when infections will actually start to decrease countywide, she said.

Ferrer said that if the testing capacity doubles across the county in the coming weeks, and positivity rate stays constant, there will be more cases confirmed.

“In the absence of having as much testing as we would all like, and with the knowledge that asymptomatic people may be able to transmit, we don’t know exactly who’s positive at any given moment in time,” she said.

Ferrer urged residents who are still waiting for their COVID-19 test results to self-isolate. This means staying in a separate room at home, wearing a face covering, keeping at least 6 feet away from others and not caring for children or serving others food. Those who test positive should tell everyone they had close contact with during the two days before the onset of symptoms to quarantine themselves for 14 days, she said.

As of Monday, 23 people among the county’s homeless have tested positive for the coronavirus, representing a slight increase from Friday. Most of them were unsheltered, authorities said.

The county is investigating 185 institutional settings with at least one confirmed coronavirus case, that’s an another eight since Sunday. Together they have 1,372 confirmed COVID-19 patients—681 of them being residents.

Ninety-two of all L.A. County residents who died were living in institutional settings, primarily in skilled nursing or assisted living facilitates. That accounts for 29% of all the county’s COVID-19 deaths.

So far, 2,354 of L.A. County’s coronavirus patients have been hospitalized at some point, representing 25% of all positive cases.

And after fears that the county’s hospitals would be overwhelmed under a flood of coronavirus patients, the county’s health officials said Friday that projections now show hospitals will be able to meet the demand at its projected peak. The Los Angeles Surge Hospital at the shuttered St. Vincent’s hospital in Westlake is set to open Monday to provide more intensive care bed space for COVID-19 patients.

But as hospitals scramble for protective gear amid nationwide shortages, California reported nearly 2,400 cases among its health care workers statewide as of Sunday, accounting for about 11% of the state’s then-nearly 21,800 coronavirus cases.

Over the past month, three L.A. County health care workers have died of COVID-19. Two of them worked at hospitals and one worked for correctional health, Ferrer said.

As of Monday, there were 787 confirmed cases of COVID-19 among the county’s health care workers, with nurses accounting for nearly a third of all those cases. Most of those infected didn’t know or report where they were exposed to the virus, but 24% of them were infected through direct contact with a patient or another health care worker, according to the health department.

About 43% of the ill health care employees worked at hospitals, 19% at skilled nursing or assisted living facilities and 12% worked in outpatient settings.

In the county’s jails, 89 people have been infected, 63 of them staff. In state prisons located in L.A. County, there were 28 people infected, including 18 inmates. Four staff members at juvenile facilities have also tested positive for the virus.

There’s also a total of 14 cases at a Department of Children and Family Services facility, including one young person and the rest staff.

At the Department of Probation, 16 staff members have tested positive for the coronavirus, including six who worked at juvenile facilities, according to acting Chief Ray Leyva.

The county’s stay-at-home order, initially set to end April 19, was extended through at least May 15. Officials ordered face coverings for all essential workers and told members of the public to also wear face coverings while they’re at essential businesses.

Link: https://ktla.com/news/local-news/l-a...e-to-pandemic/

corona has caused the rats to go to WAR!


https://nypost.com/2020/04/13/starvi...irus-lockdown/

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/13/u...on-oregon.html

^^Shame, Gavin. No "social distancing" in that photo.

The rats in my neighborhood no longer run. I had one start across the street toward me and then stop and look, more like a squirrel would

The stray cats in my neighborhood have been much more visible over the past couple weeks. I wonder if they are hunting the rats.

I'm thinking the opposite. MORE streets should go on car diets. Municipalities around the world are posting record-low air pollution and people are finding they enjoy simply walking/biking/running around their neighborhoods more than ever before. Local governments should use this as a once-in-a-century golden opportunity to change how cities work.

Exactly. They should be out right now painting the streets red and green.

Because the economy is shut down, people don't have to drive into work and thus can enjoy a leisurely walk/bike/run. I haven't touched my cars in a month.

Fine. And if you want to leave your neighborhood?

I need to go about 5 miles to my doctor. How am I supposed to get there? Can't take Muni. Wouldn't climb in an Uber with a driver of unknown status and surrounded by surfaces carrying who knows what viri from pervious passengers.

And don't tell me at 74 I'm supposed to bike there up and down SF's hills.

Cities used to work with horses. Want to bring them back?

Me either. But the Instacart guy bringing me my food has touched his a lot. No matter what you think, you aren't living car free. It's just that other people are doing your driving.

Anyone else realizing how much they spend on a monthly basis? I don't have a strict budget for my disposable income. My retirement account savings come straight out of my paycheck, I put the maximum into my tax free investment account every year, and after that it's pretty laissez faire.

Living at my parents for the last month, I just checked my bank statement and I had two transactions for $55 between my last bi-weekly pay deposits... no nights after work where you plan on going for a couple drinks and up spending over $100. No dates trying to impress some uptown girl. Don't get me wrong, at this point in my life I'd rather spend the money and have fun, but it's eye opening nonetheless.

Think I'm going to set up an entertainment budget with strict cash limits on friday nights when this is done.

One could argue that there is a very efficient middle ground between "no cars" and "cars everywhere" but if that isn't obvious to you at the outset then I won't waste my time. Hopefully cities start building for our future instead of adhering to your past.

It's pretty wild, I almost feel rich. Not having $700 auto-deduct for my federal student loans last week felt very, very good.

Yes, definitely.

Since I got laid off 3 weeks ago, we've gone on a severe belt-tightening. We haven't eaten restaurant food in 3 weeks (longest such stretch in my adult life I imagine), we've pulled our kids out of daycare (it's closed anyway, but they ain't going back when we're on the other side; parents who want to hold their spots still have to pay), we haven't gone anywhere that costs money, and we've stopped all random/non-essential purchases.

Our only non-mortgage/bill expense is now our weekly grocery store stock-up, ~$150 for our family of four.

If we have to sustain this low-cost existence for many months to come, our savings will last us a good long while. Getting rid of the $2,400 daycare bite is kinda life-altering, even with the fact that we currently have no income other than my unemployment insurance.

Respectfully, you're not everyone. Just like urbanist need to realize its not realistic for a family of 5 to bike everywhere lol

It's obvious. It's just that I think San Francisco has gone past the "middle ground" and is now far into "appease the bicycle coalition/lobby at any cost" territory.

No but there are many tens of thousands of drivers and only thousands of people who cycle as a primary means of transportation and yet San Francisco has demonized the drivers and slavishly gives the cyclists almost everything they demand. The result, by the way, has been gridlock on streets that used to flow smoothly.

Gasoline-wise, definitely not buying as much since the stay-at-home order. My partner will be starting his 5th week of working from home in a few days; I would imagine that since he's been working from home, our gas and electric bills will probably go up slightly---we've also been cooking at home more, though we still do get takeout from some restaurants, though when we do takeout, we don't buy beverages, since we have drinks at home... so maybe our food bill has gone down slightly.

I think drivers will outnumber bikers no matter what measures we take, however, the low amount of people who bike today is almost wholly related to our regulations, laws, and implementation of bike infrastructure and the built environment. Obviously some of those issues are easier to change than others but making more bike lanes and ped/bike-only roads is rather easy compared to changing our land use codes that could take decades to make an impact.

I think the number of people who would use biking as an alternative to driving is way higher than the number of people currently biking. It's really an untapped source of transportation in this country.