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Santa Monica Shatters Weekly Coronavirus Case Record Yet Again
 

Bob Kronovetrealty
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By Jorge Casuso

December 28, 2020 -- For the fourth straight week, Santa Monica topped its record for weekly coronavirus cases with 365 cases confirmed last week, according to County Health Department data.

The new cases easily topped last week's record 316 cases, which followed records of 244 and 197 set the previous two weeks.

As of 8 p.m. Sunday, Santa Monica had 2,619 confirmed COVID-19 cases -- with 1,500 of those taking place over the past seven weeks.

Last week, four Santa Monica residents died with the coronavirus, bringing the total number of virus-related deaths to 60.

There have been 17 coronavirus related deaths since November 22, after no deaths were recorded over the previous seven weeks.

The recent surge comes despite a regional Stay At Home Order issued on December 6 that prohibits private gatherings of any size, closes non-essential businesses and requires 100 percent masking and physical distancing.

On Monday, LA County health officials announced that all those who travel outside the County must quarantine for 10 days when the return.

"The best way to safely quarantine is to not leave your home or allow any visitors to your home, and to find others who can help you buy groceries and other essential necessities," health officials said.

One of nation's strictest lockdowns has failed to keep LA County from from becoming ground zero for the virus -- with cases conistently reaching between 13,000 and 15,000 a day, compared to fewer than 1,000 in early October.

As of Sunday, there were 733,325 coronavirus cases confirmed countywide; 9,555 residents have died with the virus, 93 percent of them with serious underlying health conditions.

A record 6,914 people with COVID-19 were hospitalized on Sunday, up from 5,709 the previous week. About 20 percent -- or some 1,383 of the patients -- are in the ICU.

"The urgency to take every preventative measure possible is upon us, otherwise the coronavirus transmission trajectory we see here continues, with its devastating impact on hospitals and people," said Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer.

The State's Targeted Stay at Home Orders adopted by the L.A. County have been extended and will remain in effect "as long as hospital ICU capacity remains below the 15 percent threshold established by the State," officials said.

Some health experts have been questioning the efficacy of lockdowns in curbing the spread of the virus.

They believe priority should be given to protecting the elderly, who have the highest risk of dying if infected, as well as older workers who have serious underlying conditions, while lifting restrictions on the healthy who are not elderly.

In October, Dr. David Nabarro, an envoy for the World Health Organization (WHO), said the agency does not "advocate lockdowns as the primary means of control of this virus.”

“The only time we believe a lockdown is justified is to buy you time to reorganize, regroup, rebalance your resources, protect your health workers who are exhausted, but by and large, we’d rather not do it,” Nabarro told the British magazine, The Spectator.

As of last Saturday, a total of 66,628 frontline healthcare workers at acute care hospitals in the County had received their first doses of COVID-19 vaccines, health officials said.

A total of 1,748 doses had been administered at skilled nursing facilities, with plans to accelerate vaccinations over the next two weeks, officials said.


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