Healthcare officials have asked Los Angeles County leaders to reopen a COVID-19 surge hospital that recently closed and to open a second surge hospital, according to the Los Angeles Daily News.
The Los Angeles Surge Hospital, which was opened in April with support from the state, closed this month, but a recent spike in COVID-19 cases in neighboring counties prompted a committee of healthcare leaders in Los Angeles County to request the hospital reopen.
"We're concerned about the uptick we see in Ventura and Orange County, since on Memorial Day weekend they opened beaches, hiking trails and parks," Hector Flores, MD, a physician at Adventist Health White Memorial in Los Angeles and a member of Los Angeles County's Economic Resiliency Task Force, told the county board of supervisors, according to the report. "Sadly, many people took advantage of that open environment without protection of masks and often congregating in clusters."
The committee also recommended that a shuttered hospital in Long Beach, Calif., be reopened as a surge hospital for COVID-19 patients.
Read the full report here.