Themacforums – Indoor Masking Could Return as COVID Cases Spike. Dr. Barbara Ferrer, the director of public health for Los Angeles County, thinks that if COVID-19 cases keep rising, the county may return to a high transmission level as early as next week, necessitating the reinstatement of the requirement for indoor masking in establishments like restaurants, bars, and schools.
In a press conference on Thursday, Ferrer stated, “We would be back to saying our health care system is getting overwhelmed, we need to slow down transmission.”
She also said that due to an increase in cases and hospitalizations, the county’s transmission levels were being raised from low to medium.
More than 2,700 cases a day, or 188 cases per 100,000 residents, have been reported in L.A. County as of late.
According to health officials, if reporting increases to 200 instances per 100,000 persons weekly, the county will enter a high transmission threshold.
“There is just a lot of transmission,” Ferrer said. “We had more people report to us positive COVID tests when they returned back from Thanksgiving than we have ever had.”
The coronavirus has also caused a surge in the number of children visiting hospitals.
At Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, the percentage of children hospitalized in the intensive care unit increased from October to November by 2.8%.
KTLA’s Pedro Rivera quoted Dr. Neela Sethi, a pediatrician at Valencia Pediatrics, as saying, “I will tell you, I am absolutely being pushed to the edge.”
Dr. Sethi claimed that children who were severely affected by RSV and the flu were not included in the COVID winter surge that was filling up hospital beds and emergency rooms.
Our emergency rooms are completely occupied. Hospital beds are not available. Four to five hours is typical for ER wait times. Therefore, we advise parents to get in touch with us so we can provide them with supportive care, added Sethi.
According to Sethi, this is the reason why physicians have advised parents to just keep a tight eye on their children before bringing them in for treatment.
“It merits an ER visit if they feel like they are getting very sick overnight and are fighting to breathe or if they appear very unwell and are not eating, drinking water, or sleeping well,” Sethi added.
As of Thursday evening, county public health officials highly advise wearing masks indoors and exhort individuals to get immunized for defense against more serious COVID symptoms.
