Available Ventilators, ICU Beds Among Benchmarks To Determine Whether LA County Can Continue To Relax Restrictions

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – Public health officials Friday in Los Angeles County disclosed the key indicators they are examining to determine whether they can continue to ease the safer-at-home orders brought on by COVID-19 and reopen more businesses.

There were 962 new coronavirus cases reported Friday and 47 new deaths. It brings the county's total to 36,259 cases and the death toll to 1,755.

1,733 people are currently hospitalized with coronavirus. 25% of those are in ICU beds and 16% are on ventilators.

L.A. County Public Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer said she was "encouraged" that the case growth rate and the number of hospitalizations were holding steady.

"As we continue to see the slight decreases in the number of people who are hospitalized over the last week-and-a-half we are encouraged," Ferrer said.

282,000 people in L.A. County have been tested, with 11 percent returning positive results for COVID-19.

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Ferrer announced that the county would begin Friday to post its recovery dashboard online to the public. That dashboard provides the benchmarks the county must meet before it can phase in the easing of more restrictions.

"This dashboard tracks our current status on important data indicators which assesses our progress on continuing to slow the spread of COVID-19 in L.A. County," Ferrer said. "We're using this information to guide on how and when its sensible to relax additional restrictions so that we can reopen more businesses across the entire county."

Ferrer said the dashboard looks at two categories: how capable L.A. County is at reducing the spread, and how effective it is at slowing the spread.

Under the capability banner, there are five daily measures:

• On a daily basis, at least 10% of the ICU beds countywide are available.
• The total number of available ventilators in the county are at least 20%.
• The number of hospitals with a 15-day or more supply of personal protective equipment is above 60%.
• 90% of all newly reported cases are followed up within a day of being referred to LACDPH for investigation.
• The county is offering at least 15,000 coronavirus tests daily.

Under the effective banner, there are four daily measures:

• The average daily deaths have decreased or remained stable for 14 days.
• That average number of hospitalized patients is decreasing or holding steady.
• Ensuring that 90% of nursing homes can offer testing to staff and residents.
• Tracking deaths by race, ethnicity and community poverty levels to ensure there aren't increases in some groups.

Meanwhile, L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger reported that she has been approached by officials from northern L.A. County cities of Santa Clarita, Palmdale and Lancaster regarding whether they can receive permission to relax their restrictions sooner than the rest of the county due to the lower number of cases they are seeing there.

"I think its important for cities to be able to meet their own benchmarks and safely reopen so they are not dependent only on the county," Barger said. "I have asked county counsel and the department of public health to provide an analysis on any variances that would enable cities, if possible, in L.A. County to meet their own benchmarks and move to the next stage of reopening."