• Facebook
  • Google Plus
  • Instagram
  • RSS Feed
  • Twitter

Menu

Skip to content
  • About
  • Staff
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • FAQ
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
Header image

MyNewsLA.comLogo

Breaking news for greater Los Angeles and Orange County

Menu

Skip to content
  • Crime
  • Government
  • Business
  • Education
  • Hollywood
  • Life
  • OC
  • Riverside
  • Weather
  • Vaccine Blood Clot Scare: Johnson & Johnson Out For Now In LA, But You'll Get A Pfizer Shot Instead
  • Bloody Executions Of Four Victims At Wheels 'N Stuff Car Wash In Compton: High Court Rejects Killer's Death Appeal
  • National Guard Ready If George Floyd Murder Verdict Protests Turn Violent In LA: LAPD, Sheriff On Board
  • Woman Found Dead in South L.A. Area; Investigation Underway
  • Youngest Students Back In Class At LA Schools, But Many Staying Home

Home » Uncategorized » This Article

Worksite COVID Outbreaks Soar As Virus Surge Continues

Posted by Contributing Editor on January 13, 2021 in Education | Leave a response
Share this article:
Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedinmail

COVID-19 outbreaks at workplaces have soared dramatically in recent weeks in response to rising community transmission, Los Angeles County health officials said Wednesday, warning that employers need to ensure their workers and customers are protected.

“We have a problem with COVID-19 transmission at worksites across the entire county,” Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said. “As the percentage of people who are positive with COVID-19 increases, there is simply a much larger pool of infected people walking around, often without symptoms, that now expose a greater and greater percentage of people to the virus.”

She said that in one month’s time, outbreaks at general worksites — including warehouses, manufacturing facilities and logistics companies — increased from an average of nine per week to 44 per week. Schools and day care facilities also saw a tripling of outbreaks. Ferrer noted that most of them were “small and well contained,” but they involved “dozens of staff and a small number of students.”

Such outbreaks reflected a continued rise in cases countywide. Health officials reported another 218 COVID-19 deaths on Wednesday, lifting the countywide death toll from the virus to 12,955. They also announced 14,564 new cases, pushing the cumulative numbers since the pandemic began to 958,497.

Ferrer noted that average daily new cases have risen by 1,092% since November, average daily deaths are up 1,133% and hospitalizations are up 875%.

Ferrer and Health Services Director Dr. Christina Ghaly again noted that hospitalizations appear to be leveling off at an average of just under 8,000 patients per day. State figures showed 7,906 people hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Wednesday, including 1,699 in intensive care.

The county’s patient numbers were well above 8,000 last week.

“While the numbers have plateaued at this number just shy of 8000, they have leveled at a rate that is really not sustainable,” Ghaly said. “This high plateau does not leave enough open beds to care for patients without COVID. And it does not still allow us to be prepared for an additional onslaught of patients that may present over the next couple of weeks in a potential post-holiday surge.”

Ghaly said the county’s hospitals have not yet begun to see the results of gatherings and virus transmission that likely occurred over the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Like this story? Don’t miss any breaking news from MyNewsLA.com. Sign up here for your free newsletter.

 

“Even if the slight decline continues, we are nowhere near being in the clear in the L.A. County hospital system,” she said. “Hospitals cannot sustain the high level of beds that are occupied with COVID patients.”

She added, “For there to be any meaningful relief for health care providers, we need a swift and significant decline in hospitalizations for a period of one to two months. Please do not let this current number of daily hospitalizations feel normal to you just because it’s plateaued.”

Ferrer said the county is also bracing for the likelihood of a new variant of COVID-19 first discovered in the United Kingdom taking hold locally.

“According to the latest available science, the UK variant doesn’t make people sicker, but it is more transmissible, meaning it can spread more easily,” Ferrer said. “… Current projections by the experts predict that if left unchecked, this variant could dominate locally by March.”

With the variant’s ability to rapidly pass from person to person, she said people need to continue taking all necessary precautions, while not ruling out the need for stricter regulations to control the spread.

“We should be prepared to do more if cases remain high,” she said. “The work ahead requires us to take every action necessary to reduce transmission.”

Worksite COVID Outbreaks Soar As Virus Surge Continues was last modified: January 13th, 2021 by Contributing Editor

>> Want to read more stories like this? Get our Free Daily Newsletters Here!

Follow us:
Facebooktwitterrss
Posted in Education | Tagged continues, COVID, Outbreaks, Soar, Surge, virus, Worksite

Advertisement

Get The Latest News by Email!

Sign up here for our free newsletters. We’ll send you the latest headlines every morning and every weekday afternoon.

 
FORECAST FOR LOS ANGELES
46°
Clear
Feels like: 46°F
Wind: 3mph E
Humidity: 65%
Pressure: 29.82"Hg
UV index: 0
ThuFriSat
66/50°F
75/48°F
70/48°F
Weather forecast Los Angeles, California ▸

Most Popular Today

  • Three Little Kids Watch In Horror As Mobile Home Daddy Murders Mom In Riverside Before Killing Himself 4,000 views
  • Woman Shot to Death in Pomona Identified 2,400 views
  • Head-On Horror Hurts Eight In Azusa Crash: Two Trapped In Wreckage With Critical Injuries 2,000 views
  • Torture Terror For Little Girl, 3, Brother, 11, In Temecula: Evil Foster ‘Mom’ Gets 11 Years To Life 1,400 views
  • Review of Cold Case Rape Kits Leads to Conviction in Orange County 1,200 views

©2021 CalNews Inc.

Menu

  • About
  • Staff
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • FAQ
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service