CITY OF HERMOSA BEACH: City of Hermosa Beach COVID-19 Update for 1.7.21

By Press release submission

Jan 8, 2021

City of Hermosa Beach issued the following announcement on Jan. 7

To help keep the community informed, the City of Hermosa Beach is providing regular updates featuring the latest news about COVID-19; related local updates; and how the City is working to meet the needs of the community and protect public health.

Downtown Temporary Lane Reconfiguration Project Starts Monday: Crews will begin the Downtown Temporary Lane Reconfiguration Project on Monday. The project is designed to accommodate expanded space for restaurants’ outdoor dining decks. While outdoor dining is not currently permitted under the Public Health Orders, the City is moving forward with the project to ensure local restaurants have the space they need for outdoor dining when it is again permitted. The project will temporarily reconfigure lanes on Hermosa Avenue between 8th Street and 14th Street, and on Pier Avenue between Hermosa Avenue and Valley Drive to allow businesses to better utilize public right-of-way under health orders that limit indoor dining and other activities. The project will temporarily close a vehicle lane in each direction through this area, which will allow room for businesses to expand their on-street decks. The project also will allow the addition of a bike lane in each direction. The project is slated to be completed by Jan. 22 but, weather permitting, it may be completed sooner. There will be some disruptions to traffic in the area during the construction period.

L.A. County Public Health Urges Residents to Stay Home: L.A. County Department of Public Health (Public Health) issued a statement on Monday that urges all residents to “keep in mind that community transmission rates are so high that you run the risk of an exposure whenever you leave your house. Assume this deadly, invisible virus is everywhere, looking for a willing host. Don’t let that be you or someone you care about. If you are going to work or to buy groceries or medicine, take every precaution possible. Try to never remove your face covering when near others and avoid eating or drinking with anyone not in your household. Wash or sanitize your hands every hour if you are around others. Avoid any non-essential activity; Public Health suggests you take a break from shopping, avoid any type of gathering, and exercise by yourself or with members from your household. Currently, more than 1 in 5 people who get tested are positive, and this helps explain why there is so much risk when you socialize with people you don’t live with.”

L.A. County Public Health Update on COVID-19 Vaccine Distribution: L.A. County Department of Public Health (Public Health) provided the following update on COVID-19 vaccine distribution in the county: As of Monday, a total of 185,250 doses of the Pfizer vaccine were received and 100,556 doses have been administered to our frontline health care workers at our acute care hospitals. Hospitals have also begun to administer the second dose of the Pfizer vaccine and as of today, 1,602 healthcare workers are fully vaccinated.

The County received 166,300 Moderna doses as of Monday, of which 31,915 have been administered to staff and residents at skilled nursing facilities to EMTs and paramedics, and to healthcare workers in clinics. After the holidays, the pace of vaccinations is picking up as we expand the number of people qualified to administer vaccines and open additional locations to administer vaccines to priority group healthcare workers who don’t work at acute care hospitals.

This week, there are 18 vaccination sites open across the county for frontline health care workers with appointments. Next week we will add an additional 6-8 vaccination sites for healthcare workers in Tiers 1 and 2 if we receive enough vaccine next week. Public Health is also working with pharmacies to utilize their staff to administer vaccines to priority groups. As of Monday, an estimated 11,680 staff and residents have been vaccinated at skilled nursing facilities. The federal pharmacy program should begin vaccinating staff and residents at long-term care facilities next week.

Currently, appointments at the 18 vaccination sites are being accepted only for healthcare workers at high or medium risk of COVID-19 exposure who work in specific settings. These settings include: Acute care hospitals; federally qualified health centers; home healthcare organizations; infusion and oncology centers; intermediate care facilities; residential or inpatient substance abuse and mental health facilities; urgent care clinics; primary care clinics, rural health centers and correctional facility clinics.

The County is in Phase 1A and making sure that frontline healthcare workers and residents at long-term care facilities are all offered vaccines. Healthcare workers are prioritized since they need this protection to stay healthy and be able to care for everyone. And medically fragile residents at long term care facilities need early access to vaccines to prevent the very high mortality rates experienced by residents in these facilities. Vaccinating these priority groups should go through January.

We hope to begin vaccinating priority groups in Phase 1B in early February, assuming adequate supply of vaccines. The state has identified two tiers in Phase 1B. Tier 1 in Phase 1B includes: individuals 75 and older, and those at risk of exposure in education, childcare, emergency services and food and agriculture; Tier 2 in Phase 1B includes persons between the ages of 65 and 74, those at risk of exposure if you work in transportation and logistics; in industrial, commercial and residential and sheltering facilities and services; in critical manufacturing; and congregate settings with outbreak risk including homeless and incarcerated. For Phase 1B we are planning for eligible priority groups to be able to go to registered primary care providers, pharmacy partners, or community vaccination sites. And we hope we are able to move to the next phase, Phase 1C, assuming adequate supply of vaccines, by late March, early April.

California Requests 500 Additional Medical Personnel From Federal Government to Support COVID-19 Response: Taking action to maintain life-preserving healthcare system capacity amid the current surge in COVID-19 cases, the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) and the California Health and Human Services Agency today formally requested the deployment of 500 additional federal medical personnel into the state to staff hospitals, skilled nursing homes and medical surge hospitals. The request comes after the federal government notified the State that the USNS Mercy Hospital ship is now under mandatory maintenance, in dry dock, and not available for deployment. Today's request would supplement the 1,420 medical surge personnel already deployed to healthcare facilities statewide. These deployments are part of an ongoing effort by the State to relieve stress on the medical care system during the current surge in cases and hospitalizations.

Reminder: Travel Quarantine Order in Effect: The L.A. County Department of Public Health (Public Health) issued a Travel Quarantine Order Dec. 30 that requires 10 days of quarantine for anyone traveling to L.A. County for leisure or recreation from anywhere outside the Southern California region. The Southern California region includes Imperial, Inyo, Los Angeles, Mono, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. The order includes people who come to L.A. for nonessential reasons, including to visit family members. It also includes L.A. County residents who have left the region and are returning home. Quarantining requires staying at home or finding other lodging and avoiding all trips outside the home, including trips to grocery stores or restaurants. Instead, Public Health said they should have food delivered to them.

Program to Support Restaurants and Help Families: The Volunteer Center South Bay-Harbor-Long Beach, in partnership with Supervisor Janice Hahn’s Office, is offering grants up to $5,000 for restaurants in the South Bay region that have been affected by the COVID pandemic. The goal of the broader program, which includes additional nonprofits covering other areas, is to help restaurants throughout the entire Fourth District of Los Angeles County while also providing meals to individuals and families in need. Funding is provided by Supervisor Hahn’s office. Applications, which can be found here, are due no later than Monday, 1/11/2021 at noon but should be submitted as soon as possible. There is $50,000 in funding available and the Center expects to make 10-20 awards. Priority will go to restaurants that have not received CARES Act or other County COVID funds and small businesses (e.g., single location, fewer than 10 employees).

Los Angeles County Update: The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) confirmed 218 new deaths and 19,719 new cases of COVID-19. To date, Public Health identified 871,404 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County and a total of 11,545 deaths. There are 8,098 people with COVID-19 currently hospitalized and 20% of these people are in the ICU. Since January 3, the number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 has increased by more than 550 people. Testing results are available for nearly 4,890,000 individuals with 17% of people testing positive. Today's daily test positivity rate is 20.4%.

Because COVID-19 is spreading throughout L.A. County at an alarming acceleration, Public Health said businesses are reminded they have a duty to protect employees, customers and residents from transmission of COVID-19 as much as possible and implement all safety measures in the business protocols that prevent COVID-19 transmission.

On December 1, Public Health identified 408,396 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County, meaning that 463,008 positive cases have been identified in the past 5 weeks.

There has been an additional death from COVID-19 reported in Hermosa Beach, bringing the total number of deaths since the beginning of the pandemic to 6. The City mourns this loss and all the losses from COVID-19. The pandemic continues to take an enormous toll, and all of us at the City grieve with the families and friends who have lost loved ones.

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