Chasing the Coronavirus

Since shutdowns of schools and businesses began in March, coronavirus case numbers in Los Angeles County have not gone down, and are currently increasing at an alarming rate. As someone who analyzes data for a living, I have started downloading LA County’s breakdown of the coronavirus numbers by community and tracking its evolution over time.

The results are a sobering reminder of the inequities in health care and workplaces in this country, as well as a failure of leadership. Coronavirus case numbers per capita in working-class, densely-populated areas south and east of downtown LA are typically now five to 20 times higher than in wealthy communities.  This past week, the coronavirus cases identified per capita in the wholesale district just east of downtown were 36 times those in La Cañada Flintridge (which has one of the lowest rates in the county … for now). Outbreaks have been raging in communities such as Boyle Heights and Huntington Park, and have recently spread into the San Gabriel Valley and east to Glendora. Lake View Terrace, just west of Sunland, has one of the highest percent positive testing rates in the county currently. Ultimately even wealth does not guarantee protection from the virus; cases in Beverly Hills seem to have spiked in the past week.

There are many reasons why the U.S. is in this predicament while China and most of Europe seem to have crushed the virus; one is that many crowded workplaces in our country never actually shut down. The enduringly high case numbers near centers of heavy industry such as meatpacking plants and shipping distribution centers testify to working conditions that have failed to keep workers safe. For effective results, some of these “essential” industries need to close down or reduce staff temporarily in order to COVID-proof workplaces, with payroll subsidies directly to workers to make up for lost wages. And we all need to do our part: socially distancing, wearing masks in public and understanding that packages may take longer to get to us. 

We’ve lost the first battle against the coronavirus, but we can still turn this around.

Andrew Delman

La Crescenta