LA County reports 700 new cases of COVID-19, Spring Break Travel Warning – NBC Los Angeles

Los Angeles County reported 700 new cases of coronavirus and 23 additional deaths on Saturday, health officials warned that spring break and upcoming religious holidays present a greater risk of transmission of the virus.

According to state statistics, the number of COVID-19 patients in county hospitals decreased slightly from 676 to 669 on Friday, and the number of patients in the intensive care unit decreased from 170 to 166.

According to the Los Angeles County Public Health Department, Saturday numbers have resulted in a total of 1,217,707 cases and 23,078 deaths in the county since the pandemic began.

“It is important to remember that as we approach spring break and many religious and spiritual holidays, traveling and meeting in person increases the risk of obtaining and spreading COVID-19. “The agency said. “Although the number of COVID-19 is declining in LA County, the infection is still widespread and is increasing in many other states and countries.”

Anyone arriving in Los Angeles County from outside the state must self-quarantine for 10 days, officials added.

Meanwhile, as vaccination eligibility expands to all residents over the age of 50 next week, county health officials warn that vaccination reservations will initially be difficult due to continued shortages of vaccines. He said the situation would improve.

Next week’s county is actually set to receive almost weekly vaccine allocations (338,100 doses) so far, with tens of thousands more directly to other local vaccination providers such as pharmacies and medical centers. Will be sent.

However, when eligibility expands to age 50 and above on Thursday, an estimated 800,000 to 1 million people will be added to the pool of residents competing for limited doses. It’s on top of the millions of people already on the shot.

“We will definitely be in a hurry on April 1st,” said Dr. Paul Simon, chief scientific officer of the Department of Health. “… I want the public to realize that it can be difficult to make an appointment right away. This also reflects the limited supply of vaccines.

“Even if the supply of vaccines increases, given all the other groups currently vaccinated, we cannot handle one million people in the first week,” he said. “But in the coming weeks, especially as the supply of vaccines continues to grow, I think demand will drop a bit and things will open. I recommend people just put up with it. If you can’t make a reservation right away. I think it will be easier to navigate if you wait a week or so. “

It was unclear when a new eligible group of people would be able to start booking states. MyTurn website -This is the main information center for bookings. Simon said there was also a separate booking website for other providers, such as local pharmacies, and there was no specific schedule for when to start booking a new group.

In about three weeks, everyone over the age of 16 in California will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, and demand could skyrocket a few days after the vaccine supersite is closed in LA. Beverly White reports on NBC4 News on March 26, 2021 at 11:00 pm.

Eligibility will be expanded again on April 15, when everyone over the age of 16 will be vaccinated. Simon is 16 and 17 years old because of the three vaccines currently available (Pfizer, Modana, Johnson & Johnson), only the Pfizer vaccine is approved for use in people under the age of 18. The point where one warned that a Pfizer vaccine reservation should be made reliably.

This week, the county extended the eligibility of the vaccine to more classes of workers, including gardeners, landscape architects, nannies, private childcare workers and housekeepers, as long as they all work at least 20 hours a week. A Los Angeles County-based flight crew has also been added to the eligibility list.

As of this week, Los Angeles County has received a total of 3,794,829 doses from various providers. The total is more than 2.5 million first doses (including about 67,000 doses of the One Shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine) and about 1.2 million second doses.

Simon said the county would continue to focus its efforts on low-income areas that were hit hard by the pandemic, even as the vaccine eligibility was extended to a larger group of people. In fact, 65% of all doses the county receives next week will go to such areas.

The county continues to prepare for the expected surge in vaccine supply. This is expected to occur by late April. Simon says the county is working with providers to expand the infrastructure of existing vaccine sites and prepare for new vaccine sites, hoping to increase the county’s overall capacity to one million times a week. I repeated it. The county is currently capable of giving about 600,000 doses per week.

Governor Gavin Newsom said this week that the state is capable of giving 4 million doses a week by the end of April. However, Blue Shield, which currently oversees vaccine distribution in the state, announced on Friday that it had already reached 4 million volumes across the state.

But so far, overall vaccine supply is well below that level.