News from CV Weekly

March 23

By Mary O’KEEFE

“We must identify, isolate and treat,” said Los Angeles City Councilmember David Ryu as LA County and LA City announced today they have secured more tests for COVID-19. LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said the County has secured 20,000 tests for the County.

The tests will be conducted on those who are experiencing symptoms in the medical and first responder fields. This is Phase 1 of the County’s process. The second phase, which staff is working on, is to get testing to the most vulnerable members of LA City and County, which include the homeless, those in nursing homes, the elderly and those with underlying conditions. Phase Three will be testing people who are, under the direction of their physician, self-isolating due to symptoms that would most likely lead to a positive COVID-19 result. Then Phase Four would be more widespread testing, according to Dr. Clayton Kazan, medical director, Los Angeles County Fire Dept.

Kazan is the lead director for testing for LA County during this pandemic.

Kazan, LA City Council and LA County supervisors, as well as other organizations, are continuing to work with other companies, including private companies, to secure more testing.

Los Angeles City Council President Nury Martinez urged more private companies to help in the crisis by converting factories that can be used to make must needed protective items for the medical community including masks, gloves and gowns.

Dr. Barbara Ferrer, director of LA County Dept. of Public Health, shared new numbers of COVID-19 cases. As of Monday at noon, there were 536 cases with a total of seven deaths.

She added that 80% of the cases are of individuals who are between the ages of 18 and 65, with 42% between 18 and 40.

        “This virus can affect people across the board,” Ferrer reminded everyone.

She added that as more people are tested the number of positive cases will increase; however, this does not necessarily mean the infection is increasing, just that there is more data resulting from more testing.

She and others reminded everyone to practice social distancing. This weekend many people in the LA County area seemed to forget the importance of social distancing and crowded beach walkways as well as parks like Griffith Park.

The testing that has been secured by LA County and the City of Los Angeles is a positive step forward in helping those who are showing signs of COVID-19 and isolating those who test positive.

“We cannot beat a pandemic we can’t see,” Ryu said. “The U.S. has fallen behind. We can’t wait for the government to fix it … Los Angeles is not going to wait around.”