COVID-19 Hospitalizations Continue to Break Records, Business Compliance is Essential to Save Lives
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) has confirmed 86 new deaths and 11,194 new cases of COVID-19. This is the highest number of daily deaths reported since the summer surge.
There are 4,403 people with COVID-19 currently hospitalized and 21% of these people are in the ICU. Hospitalizations have increased 4-fold since November 16. The number of people hospitalized was 1,049 on November 16 and over 4,400 today.
According to the State, the Southern California Region has 1.7% ICU capacity remaining.
During this time of extraordinarily high number of cases and hospitalizations and increasing numbers of deaths, it is more important than ever that County businesses carefully follow the Public Health requirements and be fully compliant with the safeguards and modifications in the Health Officer Order and protocols.
Public Health’s compliance teams continue to visit businesses across the County every day and review public health protocols with business owners, identify deficiencies, and issue citations for businesses out of compliance. From November 29 through December 6, a total of 20 citations were issued to businesses including restaurants, gyms, and indoor malls for noncompliance with Health Officer Orders. Since the end of August, a total of 433 citations have been issued. A list of non-compliant businesses that received citations can be found on: www.publichealth.lacounty.gov.
L.A. County businesses are encouraged to take the COVID-19 Safety Compliance Certification Program. The program provides business owners and employees the opportunity to take a free online training about COVID-19 infection control protocols and allows businesses to self-certify that they are fully implementing protocols in compliance with infection control and physical distancing requirements. To date, a total of 16,166 employees and employers have completed the training.
Of the 86 new deaths reported today, 34 people that passed away were over the age of 80 years old, 33 people who died were between the ages of 65 and 79 years old, 16 people who died were between the ages of 50 and 64 years old, and three people who died were between the ages of 30 and 49 years old. Seventy people who died had underlying health conditions including 29 people over the age of 80 years old, 28 people between the ages of 65 and 79 years old, 11 people between the ages of 50 and 64 years old, two people between the ages of 30 and 49 years old.
To date, Public Health identified 543,769 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County and a total of 8,431 deaths |