The City of Long Beach continues to see an alarming rise in COVID-19 cases. This unfortunate trend, which also is happening across the county, region and state, could threaten hospital capacity and ultimately cost lives.
Long Beach area hospitalizations (Long Beach Memorial Hospital, St. Mary Medical Center, College Medical Center, Lakewood Regional Medical Center and Los Alamitos Medical Center) have grown by 366% since November 1, to 135. While the City monitors regional hospitalizations, we also track Long Beach residents who are hospitalized from COVID-19. That number has grown by 94% since Nov. 1. Currently, 64 Long Beach residents are hospitalized with COVID-19.
While the City has a plan for surge capacity if need be, hospital capacity is a crucial indicator. As of now, 59% of beds, not including pediatric beds, are in use in Long Beach hospitals. Intensive Care Units are at 64% of total capacity, and 43% of available ventilators are in use.
What’s more, Long Beach has seen an alarmingly steep rise in cases. Since Nov. 1, cases have climbed from 27 to 190 in daily reporting. and our case rate has risen from just 6.9 per 100,000 people, on Nov. 1, to 24.7 per 100,000 people as of Nov. 28 (this includes a 7-day lag, the state methodology). And the increase is showing no sign of slowing down. Long Beach has recorded an additional 486 cases since Nov. 24, with approximately 700 more from the weekend that will be included in our total case count tomorrow. We expect the case rate number to increase significantly tomorrow once those cases are counted and the 5-day real-time average is calculated.
Demand for testing continues to increase. The City administered 1,405 tests on Saturday and 1,352 on Sunday. The City will not begin to see the implications of Thanksgiving weekend for about 10 days, and we expect to see additional hospital impacts 2-3 weeks from now. This means that today’s data and testing demands are not only alarming in their raw numbers, but as implications of what history has shown us could come in the wake of these new cases.
The City will provide data tomorrow after completing the analysis of the approximately 700 new positive cases. That data will help determine next steps for Long Beach, including changes to the health order based on these latest data.
State Indicators (Updated on 11/28/20):
- Current LA County Tier: Purple Tier (Widespread)
- Seven-day positivity rate: 6.8%
- 19.4 daily new cases per 100K population
- Testing positivity in lowest-resourced areas (health equity metric): N/A
Details Regarding Fatalities:
- 159 are associated with long-term care facilities (LTCF)
- Ages:
- 2 were in their 20s
- 1 were in their 30s
- 8 were in their 40s
- 24 were in their 50s
- 64 were in their 60s
- 65 were in their 70s
- 75 were in their 80s
- 36 were over 90
- 117 female, 158 male
- 3 individuals had no known underlying health conditions
Daily Highlights
- Six public-facing Police Department employees have tested positive for COVID-19, including:
- An employee assigned to Airport Security Detail, who is not a Long Beach resident. They were last at work on Nov. 19 and are now recovering at home.
- An employee assigned to Park Ranger Station, who is a Long Beach resident. They were last at work on Nov. 22 and are now recovering at home.
- An employee assigned to South Division, who is not a Long Beach resident. They were last at work on Nov. 19 and are now recovering at home.
- An employee assigned to South Division, who is not a Long Beach resident. They were last at work on Nov. 24 and are now recovering at home.
- An employee assigned to South Division, who is not a Long Beach resident. They were last at work on Nov. 24 and are now recovering at home.
- An employee assigned to South Division, who is not a Long Beach resident. They were last at work on Nov. 25 and are now recovering at home.
- Two public-facing Fire Department employees have tested positive for COVID-19, including:
- An employee assigned to Fire Station 1, who is not a Long Beach resident. They were last at work on Nov. 19 and are now recovering at home.
- An employee assigned to Fire Station 16, who is not a Long Beach resident. They were last at work on Nov. 21 and are now recovering at home.
- Long Beach is seeking proposals to develop collaborative partnerships among Black-serving provider agencies to promote health and wellness among Black residents who are disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.
- Recognizing the financial strain that the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have on many local businesses, the Long Beach City Council last week voted unanimously to offer additional time for business owners to pay some City business license tax and fees and provide an additional grant opportunity to eligible businesses that have been particularly hard-hit by the pandemic.
- The City is seeking to contract with community-based nonprofits to receive reimbursement for providing various resources and services to address the impacts of COVID-19 from March to Nov. 2020.
- Contracts have been awarded to several local nonprofit organizations to provide supportive services to the City’s older adult community during the pandemic.
Long-Term Care Facility Case Information:
- A total of1,544 positive cases have been confirmed at LTCFs in the city since the start of the pandemic (see attachment).
Tracking the Curve:
- For the most up-to-date information, visit longbeach.gov/COVID19data (see attachment for today’s snapshot).