11 dead from coronavirus in LA County, after report adds 4, including a minor
Four more people have died from the novel coronavirus in Los Angeles County, officials confirmed Tuesday, March 24, including one person in Long Beach, which that city’s Health Department announced the day before.
In total, 11 people have died countywide from the coronavirus. The county on Tuesday also reported 128 more confirmed cases, bringing the total tally to 662.
One of the newly reported deaths was a Lancaster resident under the age of 18, said Dr. Barbara Ferrer, L.A. County’s Public Health director.
Ferrer said the news was “a devastating reminder that COVID-19 infects people of all ages.
“These are difficult numbers to report because behind these numbers,” Ferrer added, “are families and friends who are experiencing terrible loss.”
Tuesday’s countywide report came as state officials announced the total number of confirmed cases in California grew to 2,102, with 40 deaths, one of whom did not live in California. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, meanwhile, reported 44,183 cases nationwide, including 544 deaths. And the World Health Organization confirmed 375,498 cases globally as of Tuesday morning, including 16,362 deaths.
The county’s latest tally included 21 cases in Long Beach and six in Pasadena; Long Beach officials reported Tuesday that their city’s count had grown to 28. Pasadena, meanwhile, reported its tally grew to seven. Both Long Beach and Pasadena have their own health departments. The county’s totals for Long Beach has generally been about a day behind that city’s own updates.
One of the deaths reported Tuesday, for example, was initially announced Monday, March 23, by Long Beach officials; that person was a woman in her 50s with underlying health conditions.
The other two people the county confirmed had died were between the ages of 50 and 70 years olf; one, who had underlying health conditions, was a West Adams resident. The residence of the other is still being investigated.
About 42% of people countywide who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19, have so far been between 18 and 40 years old, while 39% have been between 41 and 65.
Of the county’s 662 cases, 119 — or 18% — have resulted in hospitalization.
COVID-19, which stands for coronavirus disease 2019, is caused by a virus named SARS-CoV-2. Symptoms associated with the respiratory disease, which appear two-to-14 days after exposure, include fever, a cough and shortness of breath. While the death of the minor underscores the potential danger no matter a person’s age, most people — particularly healthy young adults — will experience mild symptoms; still, the disease can have severe symptoms and, as the rising death toll indicates, prove fatal, especially among the elderly and those with underlying health problems.
As of Monday, Ferrer said, more than 5,700 people in the county have been tested for COVID-19. About 10% of those have tested positive.
Ferrer said testing remains limited in L.A. County, but emphasized that the county’s capacity will expand soon.
“By the end of the week, we will have the capacity to have thousands and thousands of more test kits,” she said. “So that many, many more people, under orders from their physicians and clinicians, would be able to get tested.”
For now, Ferrer said, there is typically a long lag time between someone being tested and when results are available.
The county recommended to public health officials last week that they only test patients for COVID-19 “when a diagnostic result will change clinical management or inform public health response.”
The recommendation came as the county stopped trying to contain the virus in favor of slowing its spread.
Ferrer said Tuesday that the county’s limited testing strategy meant the only people who are tested are those who are determined to have “a good chance” of having the disease. So, she said, people who are waiting on testing results should act as if they have contracted COVID-19.
“If there’s a good chance you could be positive, you need to be isolating yourself at home,” she said, “and really keeping away from other people.”
In Torrance, meanwhile, five members of the Fire Department are self-quarantining at their homes after displaying symptoms that could indicate they were exposed to the novel coronavirus, city officials said Tuesday, March 24.
The cases, Assistant Fire Chief Carl Besanceney said, are suspected of involving community transmission.
During Tuesday’s briefing, Dr. Jonathan Sherin, the county’s Mental Health director, also emphasized the need to focus on social and emotional well-being at this moment — even as people are directed to maintain physical distance from others.
“For those in need of immediate help, it is very, very important that you reach out and express your feelings with someone you trust, whether it’s a family member, a friend or a mental health professional,” Sherin said. “We must all understand and embrace the notion that social distancing guidelines are only about physical distance.”
Here is a breakdown of the numbers released Tuesday:
- Out of 662 cases, 21 were reported in Long Beach and six in Pasadena (The county’s total lags behind; the updated total for Long Beach is 28 and seven for Pasadena);
- For the rest of L.A. County, the number is 635;
- A total of 119 people have been hospitalized;
- 11 have died; and
- The highest number of cases in one neighborhood was 31, in both the L.A. city neighborhood of Brentwood and the city of West Hollywood.
Here is the breakdown for different age groups:
- Ages 0 to 17: 10 cases;
- Ages 18 to 40: 268 cases;
- Ages 41 to 65: 250 cases; and
- Over age 65: 107 cases.
Breakdown by community:
(LA County’s total has lagged behind in counting Long Beach and Pasadena, which operate their own health departments)
- Long Beach: 28; and
- Pasadena: 7.
—
- Agoura Hills 3;
- Alhambra 5;
- Altadena 5;
- Arcadia 4;
- Athens 1;
- Baldwin Hills 3;
- Bellflower 3;
- Beverly Hills 12;
- Beverlywood 7;
- Boyle Heights 5;
- Brentwood 31;
- Burbank 2;
- Calabasas 4;
- Canoga Park 2;
- Canyon Country 1;
- Carson 8;
- Castaic 2;
- Century City 6;
- Century Palms/Cove 1;
- Cerritos 2;
- Claremont 1;
- Cloverdale/Cochran 2;
- Compton 1;
- Covina 3;
- Crestview 7;
- Culver City 7;
- Del Rey 3;
- Diamond Bar 2Downey 1;
- Downtown 3;
- Duarte 1;
- Eagle Rock 2;
- East Hollywood 1;
- East Los Angeles 3;
- Echo Park 2;
- El Segundo 2;
- Encino 12;
- Exposition Park 1;
- Florence 1;
- Gardena 1;
- Glendale 10;
- Glendora 1;
- Granada Hills 5;
- Hancock Park 7;
- Harbor Gateway 1;
- Harvard Heights 1;
- Hawthorne 6;
- Highland Park 1;
- Hollywood 19;
- Hollywood Hills 8;
- Hyde Park 1;
- Inglewood 5;
- Koreatown 5;
- La Canada Flintridge 2;
- La Mirada 3;
- La Puente 1;
- La Verne 2;
- Lake Balboa 2;
- Lakewood 3;
- Lancaster 8;
- Lawndale 2;
- Lincoln Heights 1;
- Lomita 9;
- Los Feliz 2;
- Lynwood 2;
- Manhattan Beach 11;
- Mar Vista 6;
- Melrose 26;
- Miracle Mile 7;
- Monterey Park 3;
- Mt. Washington 1;
- North Hollywood 10;
- Northridge 2;
- Norwalk 1;
- Pacific Palisades 9;
- Palmdale 2;
- Palms 6;
- Paramount 2;
- Park La Brea 8;
- Pico 1;
- Pico Rivera 1;
- Playa Vista 4;
- Porter Ranch 1;
- Rancho Palos Verdes 3;
- Redondo Beach 7;
- Reseda 4;
- San Dimas 1;
- San Fernando 2;
- San Gabriel 1;
- San Pedro 2;
- Santa Clarita 7;
- Santa Monica 16;
- Santa Monica Mountains 2;
- Sherman Oaks 10;
- Silverlake 5;
- South El Monte 1;
- South Gate 1;
- South Park 1;
- South Pasadena 3;
- South Whittier 2;
- Stevenson Ranch 2;
- Studio City 7;
- Sun Valley 2;
- Sunland 1;
- Sylmar 1;
- Tarzana 9;
- Temple 1;
- Torrance 5;
- Tujunga 1;
- University Park 1;
- Valley Glen 9;
- Van Nuys 4;
- Venice 8;
- Vermont Knolls 1;
- Vermont Vista 3;
- Vernon Central 1;
- Walnut 1;
- West Adams 3;
- West Covina 1;
- West Hills 4;
- West Hollywood 31;
- West Los Angeles 4;
- West Vernon 4;
- Westchester 3;
- Westlake 1;
- Westwood 6;
- Whittier 3;
- Wholesale District 1;
- Willowbrook 1;
- Wilmington 4;
- Wilshire Center 1;
- Winnetka 2;
- Woodland Hills 8; and
- Under Investigation 62.
L.A. Moves Homeless to Rec Centers as 30 in New York Shelters Test Positive for Coronavirus
3:14
The City of Los Angeles is proceeding with plans announced last week by Mayor Eric Garcetti to move thousands of homeless residents to recreation centers in residential communities during the coronavirus crisis.
Meanwhile, in New York, 30 residents of homeless shelters have tested positive for coronavirus, after a single case was reported last week, according to the New York Post, which notes that one sick person was sent from a hospital to a shelter.
The Post reports:
The number of homeless individuals in New York City’s crammed shelter system infected with the coronavirus exploded to 30 from just a single case reported last week – with one being referred from the equally stressed public hospital network.One of the homeless people who tested positive was sent to a shelter by a public hospital because the person exhibited only mild symptoms and was not deemed sick enough to be admitted, a Department of Homeless official said.
One of the reasons behind L.A.’s policy is that local officials want to reduce crowding in existing shelters, creating “social distance” and reducing opportunities for coronavirus to spread inside.
But as Breitbart News reported earlier this week, L.A. is not just relocating residents of existing shelters. It is also picking up new homeless residents from the streets, who are driven to the recreation shelters in shuttle buses.
Those who are picked up are asked a set of “screening questions” and subjected to a temperature check before being admitted to the recreation centers.
Inside the shelters — which Breitbart News was not permitted to photograph — beds are spaced six feet apart.
Some advocates for the homeless support Garcetti’s plan, thankful that something is finally being done to move people off the streets of L.A., where the homeless population has exploded to roughly 60,000.
But others (including some homeless people) worry that moving the homeless into centers with hundreds of beds will expose them — inadvertently — to additional health risk.
Communities are also worried about exposing locals to potentially infected people, and that the “temporary” use of recreation centers could become permanent.
One suggestion — made last year, before the pandemic — would be to care for the homeless on unused federal property in the city, perhaps in emergency tents.
State officials do not know how many homeless people are infected with coronavirus, the Los Angeles Times reported last week.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He earned an A.B. in Social Studies and Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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