| Nurses left Martin Luther King Jr. Community Hospital on Jan. 29. Isadora Kosofsky for the New York Times |
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In the Golden State, the average number of new Covid-19 cases per day over the past week dipped to 6,641 — not the lowest they've been, but the trajectory is remarkable for the speed with which positivity rates have plummeted, especially compared with the slower flattening of cases after the state's summer surge. |
As The Los Angeles Times reported, California's declining case numbers can most likely be attributed to a combination of factors including widespread behavioral precautions, vaccinations and, ironically, the huge number of people who have already had the virus. |
I asked her about what Californians should learn from the hospital's plight. Here's our conversation: |
Sadly, it was all too familiar. The disparities were similar, with a disproportionate impact of the disease among Latinx and Black communities and in less wealthy areas. Hospitals yet again had to care for far more critically ill patients than they were designed and staffed to manage, scrambling to create space and recruit reinforcements. |
The distress among medical providers was if anything more acute. They had been running a marathon and they were exhausted and often in disbelief over the denial they see in the larger community. Even though there is more knowledge now about how to manage patients with severe Covid, the level of deaths at the hospital where I spent more than a week reporting was horrifying. |
But the catch is that you need to get the infusion of monoclonal antibodies early, before having to be hospitalized. It blocks the entry of the virus into cells, and several types have received emergency authorization from the F.D.A. However, in South L.A. where I was reporting, relatively few patients who could benefit seemed to be accessing them. |
There were also some positive differences: Health providers had the protective equipment they needed to help keep themselves safe. And many of them have been vaccinated against the virus that causes Covid-19. |
In the story, you talked to Dr. Elaine Batchlor, M.L.K.'s chief executive, who expressed frustration that her hospital was overwhelmed, while other larger hospitals had fewer patients. But state officials said over and over during the surge that they were working closely with hospital groups and providers to even out the burden. |
Can you explain a little more about whether or why the hospital wasn't able to transfer significant enough numbers of patients to bigger institutions with better resources? |
Even as the surge subsided, M.L.K. remained at or near the top in the area for the ratio of Covid patients per licensed hospital bed. For this particular hospital, there was little evidence of any leveling of the burden, aside from government officials making National Guard personnel and contract nurses available. |
Dr. Batchlor told stories of having personally phoned other hospitals trying to get patients transferred. I was present when government officials let hospital leaders know that two local hospitals had been staffed up to receive some surge patients, but that was after the curve was already bending. Doctors at M.L.K. said that when they would try to transfer patients whom they thought needed specialized care in other facilities, they were denied. |
In their minds, this had to do with the payer mix of their patients, only 4 percent of whom have commercial insurance. They said it was a longstanding problem that the pandemic has only highlighted. |
What are you watching most closely now, as vaccinations ramp up? (I'm thinking of nationwide trends in treatment, troubling hot spots or equity in the vaccine rollout.) |
Having reported overseas, I have been looking at the vaccine rollout not only within our communities and our country, but also in other countries that did not have the means to support advance manufacturing or buy up large portions of the global supply. |
The lowest income countries have had as of yet almost no access to authorized vaccines. If equity weren't an important enough value on its own, the virus itself is reminding us about humanity's shared fate. |
New strains may emerge anywhere it continues to circulate, and some experts say that global economic recovery depends on the virus being controlled around the world, not only in wealthier countries. |
Here's what else you may have missed over the weekend |
| A section of Highway 1 along the California coastline collapsed in January amid heavy rains.Josh Edelson/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images |
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- It's not just Texas and it's not just the energy grid. All of the nation's most important — but aging — infrastructure systems are increasingly vulnerable to climate change, which can set off cascading disasters like dominoes. [The New York Times]
- Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Friday that 10 percent of first vaccine doses would be set aside for educators starting in March. It comes as lawmakers and teachers' unions try to come to a deal allowing schools to reopen. [The New York Times]
- Though much of the country was struggling with the aftermath of freakish freezes, an outdoor N.H.L. game between the Vegas Golden Knights and the Colorado Avalanche overlooking Lake Tahoe was postponed because the ice was melting. [The Associated Press]
- Early Sunday morning, a two-story, 139-year-old Victorian house started its journey down the streets of San Francisco, followed by a small parade of onlookers. [The San Francisco Chronicle]
- If you somehow missed it, Kim Kardashian West, one of California's most famous residents, has filed for divorce from Kanye West. [The New York Times]
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Jill Cowan grew up in Orange County, graduated from U.C. Berkeley and has reported all over the state, including the Bay Area, Bakersfield and Los Angeles — but she always wants to see more. Follow along here or on Twitter. |
California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from U.C. Berkeley. |
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