Party like it's a pandemic: Moment LA cops bust in to ruin underground super-spreader parties across the state and start dishing out tickets
Deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department busted more than 160 people who attended super-spreader parties and gatherings over the weekend.
The department shared that the LASD's Super-Spreader Taskforce shut down a party on the 600 block of Manchester Avenue in Los Angeles on Saturday.
Authorities said 167 adults were cited for attending the party.
Another 50 people received warnings and were advised about the county's COVID-19 order. No juveniles were present at the party.
Deputies from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department busted more than 160 people (pictured in Los Angeles) who attended super-spreader parties and gatherings over the weekend
The department shared that the LASD's Super-Spreader Taskforce shut down a party on the 600 block of Manchester Avenue in Los Angeles on Saturday
Authorities said 167 adults (aerial view) were cited for attending the party. Another 50 people received warnings and were advised about the county's COVID-19 order
The department shared video from the incident that showed dozens of masked revelers standing in a line outside a building as authorities issued citations.
On Friday, the department shut down two other parties.
In a statement, authorities said they were made aware of two locations: the 7400 block of Alondra Boulevard, in Bellflower, and the 1300 block of S. Soto Street in Los Angeles.
'A total of 48 Arrests (cited & released) were made and over 125 people were warned and advised of the County’s “Safer at Home” order,' officials said in the statement.
Video of those two shut downs were also shared on the department's social media pages.
Authorities were seen escorting dozens of people out of the party locations.
Sheriff Alex Villanueva has made it clear that he 'will seek out & take law enforcement action against ALL underground party events occurring anywhere within Los Angeles County, who fall under the Health Orders of the County’s Department of Public Health,' the Instagram caption reads.
'The goal of these enforcement actions is to reduce the spread of #COVID19 and the risk to our vulnerable populations,' the caption continued.
Authorities are seen issuing citations to revelers after deputies broke up a party in Los Angeles
Revelers are seen handing over their IDs as authorities issue citations
Video of the shut downs were also shared on the department's social media pages. Authorities were seen escorting dozens of people out of the party locations
Several partygoers are seen exiting a building after authorities shut down a party
Such super-spreader parties and gatherings are partly to blame for California's rising number of hospitalizations and infections.
More specifically, the parties on Friday and Saturday in Los Angeles County came as the county reported that it had surpassed 1 million cases.
Los Angeles County health officials have reported that one person dies every eight minutes from COVID.
The rise in deaths have prompted the South Coast Air Quality Management District to temporarily suspend limits on cremations in order to assist crematoriums in the county with a 'backlog' caused by the pandemic.
On Sunday, the agency said: 'South Coast AQMD permits for crematoriums contain limits on the number of human remains that may be cremated each month, based on potential air quality impacts.
'The current rate of death is more than double that of pre-pandemic years, leading to hospitals, funeral homes, and crematoriums exceeding capacity without the ability to process the backlog of cases.
'The Los Angeles County Medical-Examiner Coroner and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health have requested that South Coast AQMD suspend limits on cremations in order to protect public health and to respond to the current emergency.'
Authorities shared images and videos of revelers exiting buildings where parties were being held over the weekend
An officer is seen taking identifications from partygoers from a gathering over the weekend
More specifically, the parties on Friday and Saturday in Los Angeles County came as the county reported that it had surpassed 1 million cases
In addition to its rise in cases, Los Angeles County public health officials confirmed its first case of the variant of COVID-19 first detected in the United Kingdom.
It was identified in a man who recently spent time in the county. The man has traveled to Oregon, where he is isolating.
Although his is the first confirmed case of the variant, health officials believe it is already spreading in a county that surpassed 1 million coronavirus cases on Saturday.
'The presence of the UK variant in Los Angeles County is troubling, as our healthcare system is already severely strained with more than 7,500 people currently hospitalized,' said Barbara Ferrer, director of the county's Department of Public Health.
The state has been seeing more than 500 deaths and 40,000 new cases daily for the past two weeks, and many regions, especially in the south, have seen their hospitals and especially intensive care units overwhelmed.
Lawmakers and public health officials have said mass vaccinations are the key to flattening the surge, but they're increasingly concerned about the rocky rollout of the vaccine.
A center that can handle as many as 12,000 shots a day opened Friday at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles but Gov Gavin Newsom and others said they had no idea when, if or how many doses will arrive from the federal government.
Newsom said that he and other governors were told earlier this week that a reserve supply of 50 million doses would be distributed.
California has received more than 3.5 million doses of the vaccine and has administered over 1 million doses, while anticipating hundreds of thousands more.
More than 23.9 million people have been infected with COVID in the US. There have been nearly 400,000 deaths
Michael Pratt, a spokesman for the US Department of Health and Human Services, said there has been no reduction in doses shipped to states.
But around the state, counties said they were struggling to make vaccination plans and said mass inoculations of people 65 and older, who represent most COVID-19 deaths, will have to wait, despite Newsom this week adding them to the eligibility list.
Instead, they are focusing on those at the head of the eligibility line: health care workers and the most vulnerable seniors in nursing homes. In addition, it takes two separate doses spaced weeks apart to ensure the most complete virus protection, health experts say.
Without a steady and predictable supply, long-range planning for vaccine distribution is challenging, said Dr Paul Simon, chief science officer of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
The county— the nation's most populous with 10 million residents — is struggling to vaccinate its 800,000 health workers and doesn't anticipate being able to provide large-scale inoculations of its 1.3 million people 65 and older until February, Simon said.
'We don't need the full supply to begin vaccinating,' Simon said.
'But there will be a heck of a lot of frustration if we open it up for that many people and there's a very little supply of vaccine to serve them.'