In the past four days, the number of intensive care patients in the state has tripled — from 200 to 597 — and the number of hospitalizations has nearly doubled, from 746 to 1,432. By Tuesday morning, the number of confirmed cases has climbed to more than 7,400 and deaths to 149.
Dr. Mark Ghaly, California’s secretary of health and human services, said modeling suggests the state will need 50,000 new hospital beds by mid-May.
“We project that we will need that toward the second half of the month of May,” Ghaly said. “So we are very busy trying to build toward that.”
A lending library had some additional useful items, including a roll of toilet paper and cans of beans and corn, in a Hermosa Beach neighborhood.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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A maintenance worker cleans the entrance of Runyon Canyon Park in Los Angeles. The park is closed to the public because of the coronavirus.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
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Shauna Jin of Los Angeles, with her dog, Bodhi, practices social distancing with John Kiss of Los Angeles at the entrance of Runyon Canyon Park in Los Angeles.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
4/31
Protesters drive by the Getty House, the home of L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, in Hancock Park. Tenant advocates are demanding a total moratorium on evictions during the coronavirus crisis.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
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Security guard Marcos Ayala of East Los Angeles helps the Hermosa Beach Police Department close off the Strand and a two-mile stretch of Hermosa Beach.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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The Strand and oceanfront of Hermosa Beach are closed in an effort to prevent crowds and slow the spread of the coronavirus.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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Mong Noiboonsok, left, and Rena Chastan have lunch at Crystal Springs picnic area in Griffith Park.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
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Manuel Acosta, a security officer with Los Angeles Recreation and Parks, informs two passersby that Lake Hollywood Park is open but the surrounding trails are not.
(Dania Maxwell / Los Angeles Times)
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Venice residents Emily Berry and Gavin Kelley take a break at Venice Beach. Berry, a cocktail waitress at Enterprise Fish Co., lost her job due to the coronavirus outbreak, and Kelley, a manager at a performing arts school with a focus on music, said that he still has a job and that classes at the school will resume online this coming Monday.
(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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Israel Torres touches up a new sign at a closed store along the boardwalk in Venice Beach.
(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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The JW Marriott at L.A. Live is sharing a message of hope with red lights in 34 windows, creating a 19-story display on the hotel’s north side.
(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)
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A Playa del Rey beach is nearly empty after L.A. County announced the closure of all beaches and trails in an effort to reduce crowds and slow the spread of the coronavirus.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
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The Manhattan Beach Pier is locked, and a city sign explains why in three repeated messages: “Lot closed,” “COVID-19” and “Social Distancing.”
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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Juan Diaz Jr., a lifelong Dodgers fan, prays that the season will start by May in front of Dodger Stadium on what would have been opening day.
(Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)
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Hayley, CEO and founder of Love My Neighbor Foundation, right, dances with Crystal Armster, 51, while she and her colleagues continue to feed the homeless on skid row amid the pandemic.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
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A masked passenger on a Metro bus in downtown Los Angeles.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
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Members of the Los Angeles Fire Department wear protective gear while handing out coronavirus test kits at a parking lot on Stadium Way near Dodger Stadium.
(Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)
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Dede Oneal waits for a coronavirus test at the Crenshaw Christian Center in South Los Angeles.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
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A man in a mask passes a closed restaurant along Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
20/31
The Westfield Topanga mall parking lot in Canoga Park is empty amid coronavirus closure rules.
(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
21/31
Artist Corie Mattie paints a mural on the side of a pop-up store as a man takes a picture in West Hollywood.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
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Medical assistant Zoila Villalta works with Rosie Boston, 32, of Glendale, who is donating blood for her first time at L.A. Care Health Plan downtown.
(Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)
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A bus plies a route on the empty streets of downtown Los Angeles.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
24/31
The lights are on, but the Santa Monica Pier is closed.
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A couple wait for a bus outside the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.
(Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times)
26/31
With all Los Angeles schools closed until further notice, LAUSD buses sit idle in Gardena.
(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
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A lone traveler makes his way to catch a flight in Tom Bradley International Terminal.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
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Chandly Burres looks for items on the sidewalk at a deserted Venice Boardwalk.
(Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)
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Denise Young looks on as her daughter, Allison, 9, a fourth-grader at EARThS (Environmental Academy of Research Technology and Earth Sciences) Magnet School in Newbury Park, receives a Chromebook.
(Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times)
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Hollywood Boulevard is devoid of the usual crowds.
(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)
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Michael Ray, 11, plays before a movie at the Paramount Drive-In.
(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)
He said he believes the state can add 37,000 healthcare workers by asking recently retired providers, those in the process of getting a medical license in the state and students enrolled in medical or nursing schools to apply to the newly created California Health Corps.
Newsom’s message to anyone with healthcare experience was clear: “We need you.”
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Nursing homes have been the frequent setting for coronavirus outbreaks across the state.
Los Angeles County officials are investigating outbreaks at 11 area nursing homes — including Kensington Assisted Living in Redondo Beach, Alameda Care Center in Burbank and Silverado Beverly Place in Los Angeles — where elderly residents with underlying health conditions are among the most vulnerable to the pathogen.
That’s nearly quadruple the number of nursing home outbreaks county officials had announced Friday. The county defines an outbreak as three or more cases involving residents or staff at a facility.
The county’s Department of Public Health also was investigating reports of at least one suspected coronavirus infection at seven additional nursing homes as of Monday afternoon. Of the county’s 44 deaths from coronavirus, six have been nursing home residents.
“Our investigation teams work with managers at each site to review implementation of infection control, quarantine and isolation protocols,” a Health Department representative said in an email to The Times.
Outbreaks of the virus are occurring in nursing homes across the country with alarming speed and catastrophic potential. One of the first hot spots in the U.S. was at the Life Care Center nursing home in Kirkland, Wash., where two-thirds of the residents and 47 workers fell ill and 37 people died.
Families with loved ones in nursing homes should seriously consider bringing them home if feasible, said Charlene Harrington, a professor emeritus at UC San Francisco’s School of Nursing.
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“The risk of exposure is so overwhelming,” said Harrington, who has studied nursing homes since the 1980s. “It’s a terrible concern.”
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Mayor London Breed said nine employees of the large facility had tested positive as well as two patients. Infection control nurses from the state and infectious disease physicians and epidemiologists from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been sent to San Francisco to help, officials said.
“I am saddened to report to the San Francisco community the Laguna Honda hospital has a growing outbreak of coronavirus,” said Dr. Grant Colfax, director of public health for San Francisco. Because long-term care facilities around the world have been at greater risk in the COVID-19 pandemic, “we expect the situation to unfortunately get worse,” Colfax said.
In San Mateo County, the National Guard was preparing to set up medical cots and equipment at the San Mateo Event Center. The federal treatment site will be able to house 250 patients with mild COVID-19 symptoms.
“The latest projections estimate that a medical surge could push the hospitals in our county to capacity and we’ll need another location to house patients requiring particular levels of care,” County Manager Mike Callagy said. “We can’t just wait to see if this will happen.”
