Future Impact
The re-introduction of social activities in the LA area has been cautious and closely monitored. Initially hiking trails and beaches were opened for recreational use mid-May. Near the end of May, restaurants were permitted to reopen with the agreement that certain safety protocols were met such as outside seating, maintantince of 6-feet distance, offering electornic menu, and hand hygiene protocols for employees. Health officials inspected over 2,000 LA restaurants two weeks after opening and found that approximately 50% were not in compliance with the safety protocols issued.
As of June 20, 890,793 have been tested out of a total population of over 10 million residents. [5] There have been 79,609 confirmed cases with 3,063 deaths. [5] Of these 7,632 have required hospitalization. [5] The predicted surge has not happened to date, and this may have to do with early state and county-wide shut-down, however a progressive and gradual increase of COVID-19 postive cases has been occurring recently. As the LA area continues to relax restrictions, health officials closely monitor for changes indicating the need to resume at-home restrictions.
The next crisis facing California hospitals will likely be the financial impact of cancelling elective cases, costs related to surge preparation, a ravaged economy, and a predicted increase in uninsured or underinsured patients as job losses push people towards Medi-Cal, the California Medicaid insurance coverage. The University of California health system reported losses over $140 Million over 6 academic health centers from the cancellation of elective procedures. Across California, hospitals are reporting average losses of 20-30% with a predicted net loss of up to $14.6 billion across about 400 hospitals by the end of 2020. [8] In addition to direct losses from COVID impact, California passed a state law requiring hospitals to update earthquake preparedness infrastructure by 2030, which was estimated to cost up to $100 billion over the next 9 years. [10]