Report from LA (8/6/20)
Our hospitalizations are down; deaths down, testing down, and positivity rate down. That’s all good news, but still Covid 19 is out here in LA at a pretty high rate as compared to the really successful states back in the Northeast which were so badly hit in April and May. We are now averaging 33 deaths a day in our county of 10 million.
Meanwhile Covid 19 has moved into the Central Valley, the nation’s and indeed the world’s bread basket, with a vengeance. Eight of the top ten counties with high infection rates are in the Central Valley; the other two are Imperial and San Bernardino. In other words, Inland California from Sacramento to the Mexican border is aflame with the virus. LA, which was number one in CA, is now number 18. Adding to the problem is the state’s computer system tracking the data has gone AWOL — likely under-reporting the spread of the infection and causing state decision makers to operate in the dark as to which counties need to reduce which activities to slow the spread. Kern (e.g. Bakersfield) which combines the oil and agricultural industries is now the worst hit county. These are also communities with high percentages of undocumented workers reluctant to call attention to their plight due to fears of ICE raids.
The LA death rates are now 5 times as high in poor communities as compared to the more affluent communities. It’s crowded multi-generational housing and the lack of necessary PPE for our essential workers that is seeding and expanding the spread in low income communities.
More people are wearing masks, and you can see more young and middle aged people dining outside or drinking outside as local restaurants. Young people are more commonly wearing masks though there are some scofflaws still not wearing their masks and contributing to community spread. I see very little commercial activity of people going in and out of retail shops; some have closed and others are still open.
Apparently there are wild party houses up in the affluent Hollywood adjacent hills with no social distancing, lots of drinking and lots of infections. The mayor is planning to cut off utility services to repeat offenders.
Car traffic is on the increase as well as beach going and hiking on the weekends. There seems to be a little less patience in people’s interactions in grocery stores where the waits to pay can take a while.
You can see more people sleeping in cars and other increasing signs of homelessness. This will soon surge even further if Congress does not restore the UI supplement.
The school system and the teacher’s union have worked out a plan to provide better distance learning in the fall; it’s still not nearly enough, and low income kids are likely to fall further and further behind while high income parents are paying for small learning pods in their backyards and hiring experienced teachers to help teach their children. Local colleges and universities are not getting any guidance from the state about the safety on limited fall re-openings for international students and lab-based courses.
Love and safety to all,
Lucien
http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/media/coronavirus/data/index.html