latimes--2020-12-17--When will spas reopen? Not soon enough, for those who use L.A.'s spas as a sanctuary

Spa owner David St. James began reaching for the ringing appointment line on an early December morning .
Then a difficult realization set in : It didn ’ t matter if he picked up the phone .
“ It ’ s useless .
I don ’ t need to answer it .
We ’ ve already changed the outgoing message , ” said St. James , who runs Royal Thai Massage and Beauty with his wife , Chanispha , a licensed massage therapist who was born in Thailand .
The new message delivers the bad news that the spa isn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coronavirus protection order and ends with a hopeful , “ We will reopen on Jan. 2 of next year.
” But no one knows that for sure .
The ringing phone was another reminder that nothing the couple has done to make their business safe for customers has helped them avoid another pandemic shutdown .
They ’ ve drenched the welcome mat with Lysol and bought ultraviolet germ-killing machinery , plus a sterilizer for already washed sheets and massage clothes .
Spas come in myriad varieties — from ritzy celebrity magnets to modest @ @ @ @ @ @ @ various specialized forms of massage therapy , health and grooming treatments and relaxation .
There are franchised operations and neighborhood ethnic spas — among them Thai , Russian and Korean .
Some are cavernous places with multiple pools and saunas as well as spots to lounge , nap , eat and , at Korean spas , get every inch scrubbed clean .
All in L.A. County are closed ( with exceptions for medical-related treatment ) during the current stay-home lockdown .
Some spa owners are worried about whether they will ever be able @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for a key source of stress relief , well-being and community .
Spas have been a crucial escape from the confines of their homes , where they can recharge to face another day of the pandemic .
Meghan Hill spends her days monitoring data analytics to judge the effectiveness of television commercials .
The 26-year-old has depended on Royal Thai Massage and Beauty ’ s services , soft music , subdued lighting and Thai artwork to help her forget the outside world .
Working from home so much “ just adds a lot @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but physical stress on my body , ” Hill said .
“ Sitting all the time ... my body just hurts.
” The spa visit leaves her “ refreshed , rejuvenated from an hour and a half of pampering .
I wish I could go every day , ” she said .
Few seem to feel the loss as acutely as customers who frequented the city ’ s Korean spas , who have poured their frustration onto social media .
Many of those facilities had 24-7 operating hours and offered an inexpensive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were regarded more like sanctuaries by clients who often stayed several hours at a time and sometimes even slept there .
At Koreatown ’ s Wi Spa , for example , which didn ’ t reopen in November as some other spas did , a $ 30 fee got you in the door without a time limit .
Visitors could add services to be delivered in separate areas for women , men or everyone .
There were cold baths and hot saunas , rooms lined with clay or salt , a restaurant , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ napping rooms .
Downtown Los Angeles resident Amirah Safieddine said she deeply misses the peace of mind Wi Spa delivered , even more so now because the pandemic has removed so many other options to recharge .
Safieddine , a real estate agent , said she could “ spend the whole day there .
My routine is usually go to the different jacuzzies , then the steam room and sauna that they have in the women ’ s section for a couple of hours , then go upstairs , have lunch , following @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the different saunas upstairs , and end again downstairs removing all the dead skin .
Shower and go home.
” Los Angeles comedian and podcaster Lucé Tomlin-Brenner described Wi Spa as “ one of those few precious places ” where “ you ’ re just not reachable .
It seems in the pandemic the only excuse you have for not being available is actually being sick — or the crushing depression of it all , though few want that excuse .
It ’ s much more glamorous to say , ‘ Sorry I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spa.
’ ” “ I probably mutter ‘ I miss Wi Spa ’ at least once a week , ” Tomlin-Brenner quipped .
“ I want it to survive so badly.
” Like many people operating personal service businesses , spa owners ’ frustration comes with a dollop of helplessness .
No matter how strictly they followed new guidelines , they were powerless to change the infection explosion beyond their doors .
County orders , which vary around the state , have been particularly strict with spas , massage therapists and some other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tattoo artists .
David and Chanispha St. James increased expenses with new disinfecting equipment and a more costly laundry service .
They cut income possibilities by dropping from seven beds to five for safer spacing .
They added 15 minutes between massage sessions for cleaning and disinfecting but kept massages at the usual one-hour duration .
“ As soon as we reopened in November , many of our clients came back , ” David St. James said .
“ We were busy the whole month .
We were able to pay the full @ @ @ @ @ @ @ extra toward the back rent that we owed .
Now this , which is the third shutdown we ’ ve had this year.
” When her 9 Massage Envy franchises in Southern California were forced to close in March , Shamicka Lawrence did more than just follow the new health guidelines established for reopening in June .
She took 10 days to retrain her staff to make sure that they were not only prepared , but confident about their own safety .
She also decided to open only four of the locations to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It was working , ” Lawrence said .
“ But the reality is , we were at 50 % capacity of what we were doing before.
” Then another surge of infections spread across California , and just 14 days after her limited reopening , an order for another shutdown occurred .
“ We went above and beyond the health protocols , and it didn ’ t matter , ” Lawrence said .
“ We still had to close.
” Massage Therapy Center owner Karin L. Nassar said she reached out to clients @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them about all of the safety precautions she had put in place , but she has felt their reluctance about health risks .
“ I ’ m advertising more than ever , but people are scared , ” said Nassar , who before the latest shutdown was seeing 20 % of her usual business .
Nassar estimated she spent about $ 7,000 on new sanitizing equipment and owes about $ 60,000 in rent on her $ 15,000 monthly lease .
“ If I keep going as I am , there ’ s no @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” she said .
Nassar is an acupuncturist who had nearly a decade of experience running her own practice before buying the massage business .
She said she is lucky to have made an arrangement with a chiropractor before the shutdown , allowing her business to continue to see medical referrals .
Now , she ’ s just hoping the current shutdown isn ’ t extended , and she can begin to build her clientele back up to pre-pandemic levels .
Back at Royal Thai Massage and Beauty , David and Chanispha St. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an actor who has played small parts in television and film for decades and is well acquainted with how long it can take luck to change .
In 2020 , at the age of 73 , he played in three episodes in the HBO “ Perry Mason ” crime drama , in the role of Dr. Bundy .
“ I ’ m optimistic , ” he said .
“ When we reopen again , whenever that is , and it looks like it ’ s going to be January now , everything will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ back .
I ’ ll pay the landlord as much as I can , and we will eventually catch up .
”

David and Chanispha St. James stand inside their business, Royal Thai Massage and Beauty, which is closed under coronavirus protection orders.
Spa owner David St. James began reaching for the ringing appointment line on an early December morning. Then a difficult realization set in: It didn’t matter if he picked up the phone.
“It’s useless. I don’t need to answer it. We’ve already changed the outgoing message,” said St. James, who runs Royal Thai Massage and Beauty with his wife, Chanispha, a licensed massage therapist who was born in Thailand.
The new message delivers the bad news that the spa isn’t operating because of the latest coronavirus protection order and ends with a hopeful, “We will reopen on Jan. 2 of next year.” But no one knows that for sure, and it’s looking increasingly likely that the shutdown will be extended, at least in Southern California.
Advertisement
The ringing phone was another reminder that nothing the couple has done to make their business safe for customers has helped them avoid another pandemic shutdown. They’ve drenched the welcome mat with Lysol and bought ultraviolet germ-killing machinery, plus a sterilizer for already washed sheets and massage clothes.
Spas come in myriad varieties — from ritzy celebrity magnets to modest mini-mall stops like Royal Thai — offering various specialized forms of massage therapy, health and grooming treatments and relaxation.
There are franchised operations and neighborhood ethnic spas — among them Thai, Russian and Korean. Some are cavernous places with multiple pools and saunas as well as spots to lounge, nap, eat and, at Korean spas, get every inch scrubbed clean.
All in L.A. County are closed (with exceptions for medical-related treatment) during the current stay-home lockdown. Some spa owners are worried about whether they will ever be able to reopen.
Business Will California’s small businesses survive another COVID-19 surge without more help? The lucky among California’s small businesses have cobbled together loans and grants to get through the pandemic so far. But that money has dried up, and “you can only take on so much debt.”
Customers say they pine for a key source of stress relief, well-being and community. Spas have been a crucial escape from the confines of their homes, where they can recharge to face another day of the pandemic.
Meghan Hill spends her days monitoring data analytics to judge the effectiveness of television commercials. The 26-year-old has depended on Royal Thai Massage and Beauty’s services, soft music, subdued lighting and Thai artwork to help her forget the outside world.
Advertisement
Working from home so much “just adds a lot of stress, not only emotional stress, but physical stress on my body,” Hill said. “Sitting all the time ... my body just hurts.”
The spa visit leaves her “refreshed, rejuvenated from an hour and a half of pampering. I wish I could go every day,” she said.
Few seem to feel the loss as acutely as customers who frequented the city’s Korean spas, who have poured their frustration onto social media. Many of those facilities had 24-7 operating hours and offered an inexpensive level of service so expansive that they were regarded more like sanctuaries by clients who often stayed several hours at a time and sometimes even slept there.
At Koreatown’s Wi Spa, for example, which didn’t reopen in November as some other spas did, a $30 fee got you in the door without a time limit. Visitors could add services to be delivered in separate areas for women, men or everyone. There were cold baths and hot saunas, rooms lined with clay or salt, a restaurant, a rooftop lounge, a library and napping rooms.
Downtown Los Angeles resident Amirah Safieddine said she deeply misses the peace of mind Wi Spa delivered, even more so now because the pandemic has removed so many other options to recharge.
Safieddine, a real estate agent, said she could “spend the whole day there. My routine is usually go to the different Jacuzzis, then the steam room and sauna that they have in the women’s section for a couple of hours, then go upstairs, have lunch, following lunch take a nap, go to the different saunas upstairs, and end again downstairs removing all the dead skin. Shower and go home.”
Los Angeles comedian and podcaster Lucé Tomlin-Brenner described Wi Spa as “one of those few precious places” where “you’re just not reachable. It seems in the pandemic the only excuse you have for not being available is actually being sick — or the crushing depression of it all, though few want that excuse. It’s much more glamorous to say, ‘Sorry I missed you. I was at the spa.’”
“I probably mutter, ‘I miss Wi Spa,’ at least once a week,” Tomlin-Brenner quipped. “I want it to survive so badly.”
Like many people operating personal service businesses, spa owners’ frustration comes with a dollop of helplessness.
No matter how strictly they followed new guidelines, they were powerless to change the infection explosion beyond their doors. County orders, which vary around the state, have been particularly strict with spas, massage therapists and some other personal care specialists such as aestheticians and tattoo artists.
David and Chanispha St. James increased expenses with new disinfecting equipment and a more costly laundry service. They cut income possibilities by dropping from seven beds to five for safer spacing. They added 15 minutes between massage sessions for cleaning and disinfecting but kept massages at the usual one-hour duration.
“As soon as we reopened in November, many of our clients came back,” David St. James said. “We were busy the whole month. We were able to pay the full rent for December, plus a little extra toward the back rent that we owed. Now this, which is the third shutdown we’ve had this year.”
When her nine Massage Envy franchises in Southern California were forced to close in March, Shamicka Lawrence did more than just follow the new health guidelines established for reopening in June. She took 10 days to retrain her staff to make sure that they were not only prepared, but confident about their own safety. She also decided to open only four of the locations to see how it would go.
“It was working,” Lawrence said. “But the reality is, we were at 50% capacity of what we were doing before.” Then another surge of infections spread across California, and just 14 days after her limited reopening, an order for another shutdown occurred.
“We went above and beyond the health protocols, and it didn’t matter,” Lawrence said. “We still had to close.”
Massage Therapy Center owner Karin L. Nassar said she reached out to clients of her Sawtelle neighborhood spa to reassure them about all of the safety precautions she had put in place, but she has felt their reluctance about health risks.
“I’m advertising more than ever, but people are scared,” said Nassar, who before the latest shutdown was seeing 20% of her usual business. Nassar estimated she spent about $7,000 on new sanitizing equipment and owes about $60,000 in rent on her $15,000 monthly lease.
“If I keep going as I am, there’s no way that I can avoid bankruptcy,” she said.
Nassar is an acupuncturist who had nearly a decade of experience running her own practice before buying the massage business. She said she is lucky to have made an arrangement with a chiropractor before the shutdown, allowing her business to continue to see medical referrals.
Now, she’s just hoping she can begin soon to build her clientele back up to pre-pandemic levels.
David and Chanispha St. James await the day they can reopen Royal Thai Massage and Beauty in the Sawtelle neighborhood. They’re hoping for Jan. 2. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
Back at Royal Thai Massage and Beauty, David and Chanispha St. James are hopeful.
He’s an actor who has played small parts in television and film for decades and is well acquainted with how long it can take luck to change. In 2020, at the age of 73, he played in three episodes in the HBO “Perry Mason” crime drama, in the role of Dr. Bundy.
“I’m optimistic,” he said. “When we reopen again, whenever that is ... everything will start again. Our clients will come back. I’ll pay the landlord as much as I can, and we will eventually catch up.”


latimes--2020-12-19--COVID stopped her parents from returning to China. Now her mom has cancer

As Yuyuan Lin ’ s yearly visit with her daughter and grandchildren in Southern California neared its end last March , she was prepared to go home to China with many warm memories .
In three months , she had seen the Antelope Valley poppy bloom , applauded her grandson Wilson as he was named January ’ s student of the month , watched her granddaughter Hannah sell Girl Scout cookies , celebrated Chinese New Year with homemade stir fry rice cake , dried fish and a glass of wine .
Three weeks before she and her husband , Cheng @ @ @ @ @ @ @ home March 31 , Lin discovered a lump under her left armpit .
For days , she kept it a secret from everyone but her husband .
When Lin finally told the rest of her family , she said it was probably just inflammation .
She always traveled with antibiotics and was sure it would clear up after she popped a few .
Don ’ t worry , she said , promising to schedule a doctor visit as soon as she landed in China .
Reflecting on the moment , her daughter Yi @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seriously .
But who could foresee that the coronavirus would sweep the world ?
Or that China would slash incoming flights to a weekly maximum of one per airline per foreign country ?
Or that Lin ’ s flight home would be postponed ?
Since then , Luo , a single mom and her parents ’ only child , has been forced to take charge of navigating two of the country ’ s most complex and fluctuating systems — healthcare and immigration — amid the biggest public health crisis in a century , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ worst fire seasons in history .
Caught between the virus and the unforgiving Trump-era stance on immigration , Luo ’ s mother and father are now trapped indefinitely in Southern California , watching their medical expenses mount along with family tension and uncertainty .
Their ordeal was the product of unlucky twists and unfortunate timing , but one that also underscores the consequences possible for short-term visitors stuck in the U.S. during the pandemic .
Thousands of other visitors to the United States found themselves stranded here after countries from Argentina to Australia @ @ @ @ @ @ @ through April obtained from Customs and Border Protection by the Cato Institute , a libertarian think tank , showed that 6.1 million foreign visitors were unexpectedly stranded in the U.S. beyond their initial departure dates .
Cato analyst David Bier wrote in a June policy brief that visitors scrambled to extend their legal stays , but many visas had already expired .
It ’ s unclear how many people remain stuck .
Other countries have been more lenient .
As COVID-19 cases multiplied , China automatically extended work and residency permits and provided @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , according to a May brief by the Migration Policy Institute , a nonpartisan think tank .
Portugal temporarily treated all foreign nationals with pending immigration applications as permanent residents , allowing them to access healthcare and other benefits .
Meanwhile , U.S .
Citizenship and Immigration Services shut down in-person processing and came close to laying off 75 % of its staff .
Processing times soared .
Some visitors who applied for visa extensions because of the pandemic already have been denied , said Sarah Pierce , a policy analyst at MPI @ @ @ @ @ @ @ immigration agency to acknowledge the difficult situation that the pandemic has placed temporary visitors in has made life extraordinarily difficult for these individuals , ” she said .
In July , Luo paid $ 540 to apply for an extension to her parents ’ visas until the end of the year .
Their visas have now expired , and they are still waiting for a response .
According to a government guide to visa extensions , people in limbo like Lin and her husband are considered “ out of status ” and could @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that if her parents are expelled from the country they also could be banned for years from coming back .
“ This adds another layer of anxiety , ” Luo said .
“ We don ’ t have a say here .
We don ’ t have a voice.
” USCIS declined to comment about Lin ’ s case .
But according to the agency ’ s website , visitor visa extensions through the California service center are estimated to take up to 17.5 months to process .
USCIS released guidance recognizing challenges @ @ @ @ @ @ @ no promises , simply noting the agency can decide “ whether to excuse delays in filing documents based on extraordinary circumstances.
” For Luo and her mother , the delays and uncertainly eventually led to panic .
By August , the lump Lin had detected had ballooned and was bulging from her body .
Luo took her mother to an urgent care facility , and on Aug. 20 , Lin received her biopsy results : invasive stage three triple negative breast cancer .
It had already spread to her lymph nodes .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Lin get treated in the U.S .
Upon returning to China , Luo was told , her mother would have to quarantine for two weeks in a hotel at her own expense with no guarantee that she could see a doctor before her release .
Luo was still determined to get her parents home and after repeated efforts secured a Sept. 2 flight from San Diego to Shanghai .
The flight awaited final confirmation but , feeling hopeful , her parents packed their suitcases anyway .
The next few weeks were a whirlwind @ @ @ @ @ @ @ diagnosis with her part-time job doing marketing for a nonprofit youth mentoring program while helping her children navigate online learning .
Luo and her children had arrived in Los Angeles in 2016 , ready for a fresh start after her marriage had ended .
She had received a green card through her husband , a U.S. citizen , and they could stay rent-free in her in-laws ’ home in the foothill community of Bradbury .
Following her mother ’ s diagnosis , Luo had to cut back on work and apply for unemployment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ retirement benefits offered some help , but hospital bills began adding up : the $ 759 consultation , the $ 5,998 mammogram and ultrasound , the $ 2,578 biopsy , the $ 2,174 for chemotherapy .
As an international patient , Lin doesn ’ t qualify for financial assistance .
A patient services manager at the nearby City of Hope Medical Center told her daughter that treatment could cost up to $ 300,000 .
Luo initiated an insurance plan for her mother — at $ 1,700 a month .
Between medical appointments , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ took her mother to a Chinese herbalist and placed her on a vegan diet .
She was determined and relentless .
She was also overwhelmed .
“ I need to be strong for everyone in the house , ” she said .
On Sept. 6 , three days before Lin was scheduled to receive her first chemotherapy session , the forest just north of the family ’ s home became engulfed in flames .
They evacuated for the Bobcat fire , which became one of the largest fires in L.A. County history after @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Angeles National Forest .
“ Good thing I ’ m an optimistic person , ” Luo joked the morning they evacuated .
When they returned home in time for a chemo appointment a week later , their neighborhood was dark and smoky .
At the hospital , the appointment was postponed by two more days because of the air quality .
“ I said no , please , you guys don ’ t understand what every day means to us .
The cancer cells are spreading .
It ’ s really frustrating @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” Luo said .
On the morning of her second chemo infusion , Lin stepped out for a walk in Puma trainers , Bermuda shorts and a blue polo shirt , her chin-length hair tucked behind her ears .
She trailed behind her granddaughter , Hannah , who rode up and down their quiet street on her pink bicycle .
Luo dropped her mother off at City of Hope after breakfast .
The doctor called soon after she returned home .
The pandemic prevented Luo from joining her mother at checkups , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Oh , my goodness , your poor mother is going through a lot , ” Dr. Mina Sedrak said before turning to Lin and her Mandarin interpreter in his office .
Lin told him her tumor felt smaller .
“ The fact that it has been shrinking is a good sign , ” he said .
“ We want to treat you aggressively so we can control it.
” To do that , Sedrak said , she would need more chemotherapy , followed by surgery and then radiation .
At home , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ great news , ” she said .
But by October , four rounds of chemo had left Lin too exhausted to go on her daily walks .
She started wearing her winter jacket to the cold hospital .
Each morning as she lifted her head off her pillow , she left behind bigger clumps of hair .
Lin began keeping a journal , hoping that her thoughts might someday offer comfort to others .
On Oct. 5 , she wrote that she could feel her skin wrinkling and her muscles loosening : “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the ugliest moment in my entire life .
I hope I can gracefully face this fight with cancer .
I am so grateful for all the care and encouragement from my family and loved ones and hope I can keep them company after I am healed.
” Reflecting on her family ’ s predicament , Luo said she feels lost and struggles to hold onto hope .
Her children started seeing a mental health counselor .
On Dec. 2 , Lin ’ s immune system dropped , making her too weak to receive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ genetic test had revealed Lin has a gene mutation that could put Luo and other close relatives at higher risk for cancer .
Luo ’ s parents told her they ’ re worried about their immigration status .
After they return to China , they wondered , will they be allowed back to the U.S. for checkups or to visit their only child and grandchildren ?
“ There ’ s lots of question marks right now , ” Luo said .
Luo wishes she could give them more answers .
For now , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can do — making daily green smoothies to boost her mother ’ s immune system , keeping herself healthy with yoga and breathing exercises , helping her kids maneuver online classes and enjoying the extended time with her parents .

As Yuyuan Lin’s yearly visit with her daughter and grandchildren in Southern California neared its end last March, she was prepared to go home to China with many warm memories.
In three months, she had seen the Antelope Valley poppy bloom, applauded her grandson Wilson as he was named January’s student of the month, watched her granddaughter Hannah sell Girl Scout cookies, celebrated Chinese New Year with homemade stir fry rice cake, dried fish and a glass of wine.
Three weeks before she and her husband, Cheng Xing Luo, were scheduled to fly home March 31, Lin discovered a lump under her left armpit.
For days, she kept it a secret from everyone but her husband.
Advertisement
When Lin finally told the rest of her family, she said it was probably just inflammation. She always traveled with antibiotics and was sure it would clear up after she popped a few. Don’t worry, she said, promising to schedule a doctor visit as soon as she landed in China.
Reflecting on the moment, her daughter Yi Luo regrets not taking the situation more seriously. But who could foresee that the coronavirus would sweep the world? Or that China would slash incoming flights to a weekly maximum of one per airline per foreign country?
Or that Lin’s flight home would be postponed?
Yi Luo, far left, and her family share a meal at her home in Bradbury. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Since then, Luo, a single mom and her parents’ only child, has been forced to take charge of navigating two of the country’s most complex and fluctuating systems — healthcare and immigration — amid the biggest public health crisis in a century, along with one of California’s worst fire seasons in history.
Caught between the virus and the unforgiving Trump-era stance on immigration, Luo’s mother and father are now trapped indefinitely in Southern California, watching their medical expenses mount along with family tension and uncertainty.
Their ordeal was the product of unlucky twists and unfortunate timing, but one that also underscores the consequences possible for short-term visitors stuck in the U.S. during the pandemic. Thousands of other visitors to the United States found themselves stranded here after countries from Argentina to Australia closed their borders.
Advertisement
Data from January through April obtained from Customs and Border Protection by the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, showed that 6.1 million foreign visitors were unexpectedly stranded in the U.S. beyond their initial departure dates. Cato analyst David Bier wrote in a June policy brief that visitors scrambled to extend their legal stays, but many visas had already expired. It’s unclear how many people remain stuck.
Other countries have been more lenient. As COVID-19 cases multiplied, China automatically extended work and residency permits and provided welfare support to its migrant labor force, according to a May brief by the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank. Portugal temporarily treated all foreign nationals with pending immigration applications as permanent residents, allowing them to access healthcare and other benefits.
Yi Luo, 37, right, in front of her home with her parents, Yuyan Lin and Cheng Xing Luo, and her two children, Hannah Yu, 9, and Wilson Yu, 12. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
Meanwhile, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services shut down in-person processing and came close to laying off 75% of its staff. Processing times soared.
Some visitors who applied for visa extensions because of the pandemic already have been denied, said Sarah Pierce, a policy analyst at MPI.
“The failure of the U.S. immigration agency to acknowledge the difficult situation that the pandemic has placed temporary visitors in has made life extraordinarily difficult for these individuals,” she said.
Advertisement
In July, Luo paid $540 to apply for an extension to her parents’ visas until the end of the year. Their visas have now expired, and they are still waiting for a response.
According to a government guide to visa extensions, people in limbo like Lin and her husband are considered “out of status” and could be subject to deportation.
Luo worries that if her parents are expelled from the country they also could be banned for years from coming back.
“This adds another layer of anxiety,” Luo said. “We don’t have a say here. We don’t have a voice.”
USCIS declined to comment about Lin’s case. But according to the agency’s website, visitor visa extensions through the California service center are estimated to take up to 17.5 months to process.
USCIS released guidance recognizing challenges caused by the pandemic, but made no promises, simply noting the agency can decide “whether to excuse delays in filing documents based on extraordinary circumstances.”
For Luo and her mother, the delays and uncertainly eventually led to panic. By August, the lump Lin had detected had ballooned and was bulging from her body.
Advertisement
Luo took her mother to an urgent care facility, and on Aug. 20, Lin received her biopsy results: invasive stage three triple negative breast cancer. It had already spread to her lymph nodes.
Yuyuan Lin on her morning walk in September with her 9-year-old granddaughter, Hannah. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
The Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles advised that Lin get treated in the U.S. Upon returning to China, Luo was told, her mother would have to quarantine for two weeks in a hotel at her own expense with no guarantee that she could see a doctor before her release.
Luo was still determined to get her parents home and after repeated efforts secured a Sept. 2 flight from San Diego to Shanghai. The flight awaited final confirmation but, feeling hopeful, her parents packed their suitcases anyway.
The flight was canceled.
The next few weeks were a whirlwind. Luo juggled her mother’s diagnosis with her part-time job doing marketing for a nonprofit youth mentoring program while helping her children navigate online learning.
Luo and her children had arrived in Los Angeles in 2016, ready for a fresh start after her marriage had ended. She had received a green card through her husband, a U.S. citizen, and they could stay rent-free in her in-laws’ home in the foothill community of Bradbury.
Following her mother’s diagnosis, Luo had to cut back on work and apply for unemployment and food stamps. Her parents’ retirement benefits offered some help, but hospital bills began adding up: the $759 consultation, the $5,998 mammogram and ultrasound, the $2,578 biopsy, the $2,174 for chemotherapy.
As an international patient, Lin doesn’t qualify for financial assistance. A patient services manager at the nearby City of Hope Medical Center told her daughter that treatment could cost up to $300,000.
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I need to be strong for everyone in the house — Yi Luo
Yi Luo and her daughter, Hannah, go over a family photo book. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Luo initiated an insurance plan for her mother — at $1,700 a month.
Between medical appointments, Luo researched vitamins and supplements. She took her mother to a Chinese herbalist and placed her on a vegan diet.
She was determined and relentless. She was also overwhelmed.
“I need to be strong for everyone in the house,” she said.
On Sept. 6, three days before Lin was scheduled to receive her first chemotherapy session, the forest just north of the family’s home became engulfed in flames. They evacuated for the Bobcat fire, which became one of the largest fires in L.A. County history after scorching more than 115,000 acres mostly in the Angeles National Forest.
“Good thing I’m an optimistic person,” Luo joked the morning they evacuated.
Advertisement
Hospital navigator Whitney Cheng, left, escorts Yuyuan Lin through a screening process upon her arrival for chemotherapy at City of Hope Hospital in Duarte. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
When they returned home in time for a chemo appointment a week later, their neighborhood was dark and smoky. At the hospital, the appointment was postponed by two more days because of the air quality.
“I said no, please, you guys don’t understand what every day means to us. The cancer cells are spreading. It’s really frustrating and very stressful for our mental health,” Luo said.
On the morning of her second chemo infusion, Lin stepped out for a walk in Puma trainers, Bermuda shorts and a blue polo shirt, her chin-length hair tucked behind her ears. She trailed behind her granddaughter, Hannah, who rode up and down their quiet street on her pink bicycle.
Yi Luo brings her mother in for chemotherapy at City of Hope Hospital in Duarte. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Luo dropped her mother off at City of Hope after breakfast. The doctor called soon after she returned home. The pandemic prevented Luo from joining her mother at checkups, but she listened in by phone.
“Oh, my goodness, your poor mother is going through a lot,” Dr. Mina Sedrak said before turning to Lin and her Mandarin interpreter in his office. Lin told him her tumor felt smaller.
“The fact that it has been shrinking is a good sign,” he said. “We want to treat you aggressively so we can control it.”
Yuyuan Lin shows her family a chemo port put on her chest by doctors at City of Hope Hospital. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
To do that, Sedrak said, she would need more chemotherapy, followed by surgery and then radiation.
At home, Luo smiled. “That’s great news,” she said.
But by October, four rounds of chemo had left Lin too exhausted to go on her daily walks. She started wearing her winter jacket to the cold hospital. Each morning as she lifted her head off her pillow, she left behind bigger clumps of hair.
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Lin began keeping a journal, hoping that her thoughts might someday offer comfort to others. On Oct. 5, she wrote that she could feel her skin wrinkling and her muscles loosening:
Yuyuan Lin rests in late November at her daughter’s house. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)
“I am really thin. It is the ugliest moment in my entire life. I hope I can gracefully face this fight with cancer. I am so grateful for all the care and encouragement from my family and loved ones and hope I can keep them company after I am healed.”
Reflecting on her family’s predicament, Luo said she feels lost and struggles to hold onto hope.
Her children started seeing a mental health counselor. On Dec. 2, Lin’s immune system dropped, making her too weak to receive a fifth radiation treatment. And a genetic test had revealed Lin has a gene mutation that could put Luo and other close relatives at higher risk for cancer.
Column One A showcase for compelling storytelling from the Los Angeles Times. More stories
Luo’s parents told her they’re worried about their immigration status. After they return to China, they wondered, will they be allowed back to the U.S. for checkups or to visit their only child and grandchildren?
“There’s lots of question marks right now,” Luo said.
Luo wishes she could give them more answers. For now, she’s focused on what she can do — making daily green smoothies to boost her mother’s immune system, keeping herself healthy with yoga and breathing exercises, helping her kids maneuver online classes and enjoying the extended time with her parents.


latimes--2020-12-19--Garcetti's decision to stay is a relief for some L.A. community leaders

El Sereno resident Ray Rios has lost three close friends to COVID-19 and watched as the lines at a local coronavirus testing site grew longer this week , a sign of the unending pandemic .
The prospect of Mayor Eric Garcetti leaving to join President-elect Joe Biden during the health crisis was disconcerting to Rios , who said Friday that he was relieved Garcetti is staying in Los Angeles .
“ Right now is no time for transition , ” said Rios , who heads a homeowners association .
“ He needs to hold the reins to everything that ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ marked by massive upheaval and anxiety brought about by the pandemic , some community leaders and activists suggested Friday there was little appetite for a change at the top of City Hall at this particular moment .
“ There ’ s a case to be made for continuity right now , ” said Jon Deutsch , a neighborhood council member in Los Feliz .
Garcetti said Thursday during a news briefing that he was staying put , despite his longtime relationship with Biden .
“ Joe Biden told me for the last few @ @ @ @ @ @ @ me coming to Washington , D.C. , and there were things on the table for me , ” Garcetti said , adding that he told the Biden team this week that he was staying put in Los Angeles .
Thursday ’ s news event felt reminiscent at points of another Garcetti announcement , about two years earlier , when the mayor gathered reporters at L.A. City Hall to say that he wouldn ’ t be pursuing a presidential run .
At that time , Garcetti cited the resolution of the Los Angeles school @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the pants ” that told him he needed to remain L.A. 's leader .
This year , it was the pandemic , he said .
“ I don ’ t think that you leave a city at its toughest moment when you ’ re its chief executive , ” Garcetti said Thursday .
Whether Garcetti faces blowback for repeatedly appearing to leave his options open for other jobs remains to be seen .
Vicki Halliday , a Venice resident who serves on the neighborhood council , said there have been many problems with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
She would have liked to see Garcetti move on .
“ We need someone stronger in Los Angeles , ” Halliday said .
“ It would have been great to have new leadership.
” Others pointed to the possible disruption if Garcetti had exited .
South L.A. activist Najee Ali cited community leaders ’ confusion following the departure of then-Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar from a district stretching from downtown to Eagle Rock amid a federal investigation .
Local leaders expressed concern over who was running the district and said they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about issues like policing .
“ Without a leader , there ’ s going to be more chaos , ” Ali said , envisioning a scenario in which Garcetti had left .
“ COVID-19 is still running rampant in our city and crime is getting worse.
” Health officials said Friday that Los Angeles County is on the verge of becoming the nation ’ s epicenter for the pandemic as local hospitals become critically overcrowded .
Garcetti ’ s 9-year-old daughter , Maya , tested positive for the coronavirus , he announced at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his wife , Amy Wakeland , tested negative , he said .
Michael Benedetto , who serves on a neighborhood council in Granada Hills , has been thankful for the mayor ’ s media briefings on the pandemic .
Benedetto said he was surprised by Garcetti ’ s announcement because he assumed he would leave .
“ He ’ s ambitious , ” Benedetto said .
“ I think it would be a steppingstone for him.
” In some Los Angeles political circles , there is the perception that allegations of harassment made @ @ @ @ @ @ @ weeks of protests outside Garcetti ’ s home , hurt the mayor ’ s ability to land a prominent position with Biden .
Activist groups including Black Lives Matter rallied outside Getty House to protest any Garcetti appointment to a Biden administration .
Black Lives Matter co-founder Melina Abdullah said the final protest was held Wednesday , one day after former South Bend , Ind.
, Mayor Pete Buttigieg was selected to become secretary of Transportation .
As vaccines roll out in Los Angeles County next year , Garcetti and other city officials @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their distribution .
He ’ ll also be expected to be a booster for industries as the economy comes to life after the pandemic ends .
At the same time , the 2022 mayor ’ s race will start heating up next year and the focus will increasingly be on who will go on to lead the city .
L.A. City Atty .
Mike Feuer has already declared his candidacy , and City Councilman Joe Buscaino , who represents a Watts-to-San Pedro district , is weighing a run , a representative said .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ de León also did not rule out the possibility of a run for mayor in 2022 during their recent council races .
Rios , of El Sereno , said he ’ s grateful that Garcetti is staying because it means there probably won ’ t be a special election next year — one that could have involved de León , his councilman .
“ It ’ s like dominoes , ” Rios said of politicians ’ moves .

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, shown in 2013, said this week that he will remain mayor and not take a job in the Biden administration.
El Sereno resident Ray Rios has lost three close friends to COVID-19 and watched as the lines at a local coronavirus testing site grew longer this week, a sign of the unending pandemic.
The prospect of Mayor Eric Garcetti leaving to join President-elect Joe Biden during the health crisis was disconcerting to Rios, who said Friday that he was relieved Garcetti is staying in Los Angeles.
“Right now is no time for transition,” said Rios, who heads a homeowners association. “He needs to hold the reins to everything that’s going on.”
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In a year marked by massive upheaval and anxiety brought about by the pandemic, some community leaders and activists suggested Friday there was little appetite for a change at the top of City Hall at this particular moment.
“There’s a case to be made for continuity right now,” said Jon Deutsch, a neighborhood council member in Los Feliz.
Garcetti said Thursday during a news briefing that he was staying put, despite his longtime relationship with Biden.
“Joe Biden told me for the last few years that he was very interested in me coming to Washington, D.C., and there were things on the table for me,” Garcetti said, adding that he told the Biden team this week that he was staying put in Los Angeles.
A Biden transition spokesman declined to comment Friday on Garcetti’s remarks.
Thursday’s news event felt reminiscent at points of another Garcetti announcement, about two years earlier, when the mayor gathered reporters at L.A. City Hall to say that he wouldn’t be pursuing a presidential run.
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At that time, Garcetti cited the resolution of the Los Angeles school strike as being the “kick in the pants” that told him he needed to remain L.A.’s leader. This year, it was the pandemic, he said.
“I don’t think that you leave a city at its toughest moment when you’re its chief executive,” Garcetti said Thursday.
Whether Garcetti faces blowback for repeatedly appearing to leave his options open for other jobs remains to be seen.
Vicki Halliday, a Venice resident who serves on the neighborhood council, said there have been many problems with the Garcetti-backed homeless shelter in her neighborhood.
She would have liked to see Garcetti move on.
“We need someone stronger in Los Angeles,” Halliday said. “It would have been great to have new leadership.”
Others pointed to the possible disruption if Garcetti had exited.
South L.A. activist Najee Ali cited community leaders’ confusion following the departure of then-Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar from a district stretching from downtown to Eagle Rock amid a federal investigation.
Local leaders expressed concern over who was running the district and said they didn’t know whom to contact about issues like policing.
“Without a leader, there’s going to be more chaos,” Ali said, envisioning a scenario in which Garcetti had left. “COVID-19 is still running rampant in our city and crime is getting worse.”
Health officials said Friday that Los Angeles County is on the verge of becoming the nation’s epicenter for the pandemic as local hospitals become critically overcrowded.
Garcetti’s 9-year-old daughter, Maya, tested positive for the coronavirus, he announced at Thursday’s briefing. Garcetti and his wife, Amy Wakeland, tested negative, he said.
Michael Benedetto, who serves on a neighborhood council in Granada Hills, has been thankful for the mayor’s media briefings on the pandemic. Benedetto said he was surprised by Garcetti’s announcement because he assumed he would leave.
“He’s ambitious,” Benedetto said. “I think it would be a steppingstone for him.”
In some Los Angeles political circles, there is the perception that allegations of harassment made against a former Garcetti aide, and weeks of protests outside Garcetti’s home, hurt the mayor’s ability to land a prominent position with Biden.
Activist groups including Black Lives Matter rallied outside Getty House to protest any Garcetti appointment to a Biden administration.
Black Lives Matter co-founder Melina Abdullah said the final protest was held Wednesday, one day after former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg was selected to become secretary of Transportation.
As vaccines roll out in Los Angeles County next year, Garcetti and other city officials could play a role in helping oversee their distribution. He’ll also be expected to be a booster for industries as the economy comes to life after the pandemic ends.
At the same time, the 2022 mayor’s race will start heating up next year and the focus will increasingly be on who will go on to lead the city.
L.A. City Atty. Mike Feuer has already declared his candidacy, and City Councilman Joe Buscaino, who represents a Watts-to-San Pedro district, is weighing a run, a representative said.
L.A. City Councilmen Mark Ridley-Thomas and Kevin de León also did not rule out the possibility of a run for mayor in 2022 during their recent council races.
Rios, of El Sereno, said he’s grateful that Garcetti is staying because it means there probably won’t be a special election next year — one that could have involved de León, his councilman.
“It’s like dominoes,” Rios said of politicians’ moves.


latimes--2020-12-19--L.A. County document outlines healthcare rationing if COVID-19 hospital surge worsens

With intensive care units full and projections showing big increases in hospitalizations through New Year ’ s Day , Southern California ’ s medical system is faced with the prospect of not being able to provide critical medical care to everyone who needs it , which would significantly increase the chances of patients dying as they wait for help .
Already , hospitals are juggling resources to keep up , placing the overflow of ICU patients in other parts of hospitals not designed for them , clearing out critical care wards of patients who can survive elsewhere and in some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ long as eight hours until space is available .
But much more wrenching choices could be ahead as the COVID-19 surge shows no signs of slowing down , and there is little hope for the arrival of an army of additional medical professionals who can greatly expand intensive care unit availability through the end of the year .
Many hospitals are preparing for the possibility of rationing care in the coming weeks as the number of patients exceeds their staffs ’ abilities to care for them .
A document obtained by The Times @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crisis situation was recently circulated among doctors at the four hospitals run by Los Angeles County .
The guidelines call for a shift in mindset that is unfamiliar to many medical providers .
Instead of trying everything to save a patient , their goal during a crisis is to save as many patients as possible , meaning those less likely to survive will not receive the same level of care they would have otherwise .
Doctors will no longer be pulling out all the stops to save a life but instead strategizing about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ possible from perishing .
“ Some compromise of standard of care is unavoidable ; it is not that an entity , system , or locale chooses to limit resources , it is that the resources are clearly not available to provide care in a regular manner , ” the document reads .
L.A. County Health Services Director Dr. Christina Ghaly said in an email that the guidelines were not in place as of Friday night but that they were essential to develop given the surge has arrived and “ the worst is yet @ @ @ @ @ @ @ beds , supplies , and equipment for now , but we don ’ t have enough trained staff for the number of patients who need care .
We have brought in new staff , retrained and redeployed staff from other areas of the system , and have requested additional resources from the state , ” Ghaly wrote .
“ But these measures are not anticipated to be enough to meet the continuously escalating number of patients that are presenting across the county for care.
” Across the nation , it has already become @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with COVID-19 symptoms today than it was a couple of months ago , said Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo , UC San Francisco chair of the department of epidemiology and biostatistics .
This sets up the potential for a deadly Catch-22 already seen in hard-hit places in China , Italy and New York earlier in the pandemic — hospitals so crowded that people have to be extremely sick before they ’ re admitted , by which time , it may be too late to save them .
Earlier in the pandemic , some less critically @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to return home instead of being admitted to an overcrowded hospital .
Some people deteriorated at home and later died .
Had they been admitted earlier , as would have been the case if the hospital were less crowded , they ’ d have a much higher chance of surviving .
In Wuhan , China , a steelworker this year recounted to The Times about how , by the time his father got a hospital bed , it was outside the ICU , and no nurses were available .
His father died a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ April , an emergency room physician in New York City told The Times that patients were advised to stay away from the hospital until the last minute , but then it would take three to four hours for an ambulance to arrive .
A patient ’ s condition can decline precipitously in that time .
“ When hospitals start to to get full … we subtly change our thresholds for admitting someone to the hospital , ” Bibbins-Domingo said .
“ So maybe last month , we might say , ‘ Wow , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Let ’ s admit you to the hospital because we want to be more cautious.
’ And when a hospital is full , that is a time when we might … say , ‘ Well , why don ’ t we wait another day and see how you do ?
’ ” Symptoms can worsen so quickly that it may be too late to seek help by the time a person realizes something is seriously wrong , or , having been turned away once , some sick patients may second-guess whether they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ should .
“ We want to have a system functioning such that anyone who is sick enough that should be in the hospital is able to find a place in the hospital , and if they are severely ill , to have a bed available in the ICU , ” said Dr. Robert Kim-Farley , medical epidemiologist and infectious-diseases expert at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health .
A study published in the summer in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine found that patients admitted to hospitals with fewer ICU beds had a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ memo said the shortages are unlikely to be of tools like ventilators but instead of highly trained staff , specifically respiratory therapists , ICU nurses and critical care physicians .
Decisions would be made by an appointed triage officer .
For patients who receive a scarce resource , they will be given up to two days to see if it is helping , at which point they should be reassessed to determine whether the treatment should continue .
If the patient has not shown improvement or has gotten worse , the resource may @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The ethical justification … is that in a public health emergency when there are not enough critical care resources for all , the goal of maximizing population outcomes would be jeopardized if patients who were determined to be unlikely to survive were allowed indefinite use of scarce resources , ” the document states .
Meanwhile , patients waiting for these resources may move up in the queue if their condition deteriorates and they are determined to be more in need , according to the guidelines .
The decisions will be made by the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ executive if there is a dispute .
The chief medical officer of L.A. County ’ s flagship public hospital warned that although the county has not yet suffered catastrophic consequences , it “ is now moving towards becoming the epicenter of the pandemic … and if we don ’ t stop the spread , our hospitals will be overwhelmed.
” “ If you have a heart attack , if you get into a car accident , if you fall off a ladder , or have a stroke , we may not have a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Brad Spellberg , chief medical officer of L.A. County-USC Medical Center .
He added : “ I ’ m not going to sugarcoat this : We are getting crushed.
” The spring surge in New York overwhelmed the medical infrastructure and caused a huge increase in deaths because some people simply could not get the care they needed .
Treatment of COVID-19 has advanced considerably since then , with new procedures that have reduced mortality rates and new drugs that are helpful for the sickest patients .
Hospitals have more supplies and have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ oxygen in patients .
The autumn surge , however , has been much worse than anyone imagined in California , caused in part by many Californians deciding they were done with social distancing and mask-wearing guidelines , and ignoring pleas by officials to cancel large Thanksgiving gatherings .
If Californians did stop meeting with other people around the time the new state stay-at-home order went into effect for most of the state just before midnight Dec. 7 , the state still could avoid the fate of New York , according to some experts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and infectious-diseases expert at UC San Francisco , said if Californians are heeding that order , the earliest signs of a leveling off in new daily cases could be seen by Monday and in the days thereafter .
“ I ’ d say we have three more weeks of pressure on the hospitals , ” Rutherford said .
“ Hopefully , some of the vaccines can take some of the pressure off from nursing homes.
” Rutherford said he suspects “ people are going to do the right thing.
” But anything is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ na happen with Christmas ?
You saw how convincing we were with Thanksgiving.
” Los Angeles County ’ s chief medical officer , Dr. Jeffrey Gunzenhauser , said he is closely watching the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 , distraught at the rapid rise .
He said he is waiting for the inflection point , the moment when the rate of growth begins to flatten out .
“ We have not hit it .
It is still picking up faster .
The number of people going into the hospitals is pretty much @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It ’ s not just getting bigger — it ’ s getting bigger faster , ” he said .
Gunzenhauser said that once the county does hit the inflection point , it will still be awhile before it hits the peak .
And once it hits the peak , there will still be thousands of more people who continue to be hospitalized as the numbers begin to reduce .
L.A. County has continued to report single-day coronavirus case numbers at or near daily records .
On Friday , an independent Times tally found @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the second highest single-day tally on record ; on Wednesday , 22,469 cases were recorded .
L.A. County is now averaging about 13,600 coronavirus cases a day over the last week , more than triple the comparable figure on Thanksgiving .
On Friday , 87 deaths were reported in L.A. County , which is now averaging 79 deaths a day over the past week , a record and more than double the figure from Thanksgiving .
As of Friday at 9 a.m. , fewer than 70 ICU beds were available across L.A. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that actually fluctuates from hour to hour , a significant drop from the midmorning tally of about 100 earlier in the week .
Pleas for further reinforcements of additional medical staff desperately needed have so far largely gone unanswered because , as state officials have warned , there is virtually no more extra medical staff available nationwide to help treat the tsunami of COVID-19 hospitalized patients .
California on Friday broke a record for most coronavirus cases in a single day with 53,326 , topping the high last set Wednesday , when 52,330 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Times ’ county-by-county survey .
The state is now averaging more than 40,000 new coronavirus cases a day over the last week , a new record and 10 times the figure from Halloween .
The record for the number of Californians hospitalized for COVID-19 has been broken for 20 days in a row , rising to 16,019 by Thursday , including 3,447 people in intensive care units .
COVID-19 hospitalizations have multiplied sevenfold since late October .
The state recorded 265 COVID-19 deaths Friday , its fourth-largest single-day tally .
California is now @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a new record , and five times the comparable figure from early November .
A doctor at an L.A. County public hospital said this week that there were zero ICU beds left for patients , forcing the hospital to move into surge mode .
The hospital was also asking staff to postpone any vacations in the next six weeks , the physician said .
The doctor anticipates that deaths will double by January and that the hospital will be treating patients in the hallways with one staff member caring for too many patients @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cases and the steep slope of the trajectory that shows no sign in bending , we ’ re essentially screwed , ” the doctor said .
“ We ’ re afraid that California is heading towards New York spring status at this rate.
” A nurse at a Kaiser Permanente hospital in L.A. County said his facility is rapidly running out of beds , as he and other staff work six days a week to keep up .
Patients without COVID-19 are being put wherever possible to make room for the crush of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to be getting the vaccine soon , but no word exactly when , ” he said .
“ It is insanely busy and stressful with constant changes day by day.
” Times staff writers Meredith Blake , Luke Money and Alice Y. Su contributed to this report .

Rong-Gong Lin II, Soumya Karlamangla, Adam Elmahrek

With intensive care units full and projections showing big increases in hospitalizations through New Year’s Day, Southern California’s medical system is faced with the prospect of not being able to provide critical medical care to everyone who needs it, which would significantly increase the chances of patients dying as they wait for help.
Already, hospitals are juggling resources to keep up, placing the overflow of ICU patients in other parts of hospitals not designed for them, clearing out critical care wards of patients who can survive elsewhere and in some cases keeping patients on ambulances for as long as eight hours until space is available.
But much more wrenching choices could be ahead as the COVID-19 surge shows no signs of slowing down, and there is little hope for the arrival of an army of additional medical professionals who can greatly expand intensive care unit availability through the end of the year.
Many hospitals are preparing for the possibility of rationing care in the coming weeks as the number of patients exceeds their staffs’ abilities to care for them. A document obtained by The Times outlining how to allocate resources in a crisis situation was recently circulated among doctors at the four hospitals run by Los Angeles County.
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The guidelines call for a shift in mindset that is unfamiliar to many medical providers.
Instead of trying everything to save a patient, their goal during a crisis is to save as many patients as possible, meaning those less likely to survive will not receive the same level of care they would have otherwise. Doctors will no longer be pulling out all the stops to save a life but instead strategizing about how to keep as many people as possible from perishing.
“Some compromise of standard of care is unavoidable; it is not that an entity, system, or locale chooses to limit resources, it is that the resources are clearly not available to provide care in a regular manner,” the document reads.
L.A. County Health Services Director Dr. Christina Ghaly said in an email that the guidelines were not in place as of Friday night but that they were essential to develop given the surge has arrived and “the worst is yet to come.”
“We have enough beds, supplies, and equipment for now, but we don’t have enough trained staff for the number of patients who need care. We have brought in new staff, retrained and redeployed staff from other areas of the system, and have requested additional resources from the state,” Ghaly wrote. “But these measures are not anticipated to be enough to meet the continuously escalating number of patients that are presenting across the county for care.”
Across the nation, it has already become harder to get admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 symptoms today than it was a couple of months ago, said Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, UC San Francisco chair of the department of epidemiology and biostatistics.
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This sets up the potential for a deadly Catch-22 already seen in hard-hit places in China, Italy and New York earlier in the pandemic — hospitals so crowded that people have to be extremely sick before they’re admitted, by which time, it may be too late to save them.
Earlier in the pandemic, some less critically ill patients in hot zones were asked to return home instead of being admitted to an overcrowded hospital. Some people deteriorated at home and later died. Had they been admitted earlier, as would have been the case if the hospital were less crowded, they’d have a much higher chance of surviving.
In Wuhan, China, a steelworker this year recounted to The Times about how, by the time his father got a hospital bed, it was outside the ICU, and no nurses were available. His father died a week after he was admitted. In April, an emergency room physician in New York City told The Times that patients were advised to stay away from the hospital until the last minute, but then it would take three to four hours for an ambulance to arrive. A patient’s condition can decline precipitously in that time.
“When hospitals start to to get full … we subtly change our thresholds for admitting someone to the hospital,” Bibbins-Domingo said. “So maybe last month, we might say, ‘Wow, you’re not getting enough oxygen. Let’s admit you to the hospital because we want to be more cautious.’ And when a hospital is full, that is a time when we might … say, ‘Well, why don’t we wait another day and see how you do?’”
Symptoms can worsen so quickly that it may be too late to seek help by the time a person realizes something is seriously wrong, or, having been turned away once, some sick patients may second-guess whether they should return to the hospital when they should.
“We want to have a system functioning such that anyone who is sick enough that should be in the hospital is able to find a place in the hospital, and if they are severely ill, to have a bed available in the ICU,” said Dr. Robert Kim-Farley, medical epidemiologist and infectious-diseases expert at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.
A study published in the summer in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine found that patients admitted to hospitals with fewer ICU beds had a higher risk of death.
The county memo said the shortages are unlikely to be of tools like ventilators but instead of highly trained staff, specifically respiratory therapists, ICU nurses and critical care physicians. Decisions would be made by an appointed triage officer. For patients who receive a scarce resource, they will be given up to two days to see if it is helping, at which point they should be reassessed to determine whether the treatment should continue.
If the patient has not shown improvement or has gotten worse, the resource may be reallocated to someone else.
“The ethical justification … is that in a public health emergency when there are not enough critical care resources for all, the goal of maximizing population outcomes would be jeopardized if patients who were determined to be unlikely to survive were allowed indefinite use of scarce resources,” the document states.
Meanwhile, patients waiting for these resources may move up in the queue if their condition deteriorates and they are determined to be more in need, according to the guidelines. The decisions will be made by the triage officer and potentially the facility chief executive if there is a dispute.
The chief medical officer of L.A. County’s flagship public hospital warned that although the county has not yet suffered catastrophic consequences, it “is now moving towards becoming the epicenter of the pandemic … and if we don’t stop the spread, our hospitals will be overwhelmed.”
“If you have a heart attack, if you get into a car accident, if you fall off a ladder, or have a stroke, we may not have a bed for you,” said Dr. Brad Spellberg, chief medical officer of L.A. County-USC Medical Center.
He added: “I’m not going to sugarcoat this: We are getting crushed.”
The spring surge in New York overwhelmed the medical infrastructure and caused a huge increase in deaths because some people simply could not get the care they needed. Treatment of COVID-19 has advanced considerably since then, with new procedures that have reduced mortality rates and new drugs that are helpful for the sickest patients. Hospitals have more supplies and have better techniques for increasing the level of oxygen in patients.
The autumn surge, however, has been much worse than anyone imagined in California, caused in part by many Californians deciding they were done with social distancing and mask-wearing guidelines, and ignoring pleas by officials to cancel large Thanksgiving gatherings.
If Californians did stop meeting with other people around the time the new state stay-at-home order went into effect for most of the state just before midnight Dec. 7, the state still could avoid the fate of New York, according to some experts.
Dr. George Rutherford, an epidemiologist and infectious-diseases expert at UC San Francisco, said if Californians are heeding that order, the earliest signs of a leveling off in new daily cases could be seen by Monday and in the days thereafter. “I’d say we have three more weeks of pressure on the hospitals,” Rutherford said. “Hopefully, some of the vaccines can take some of the pressure off from nursing homes.”
Rutherford said he suspects “people are going to do the right thing.” But anything is possible. “What’s gonna happen with Christmas? You saw how convincing we were with Thanksgiving.”
Los Angeles County’s chief medical officer, Dr. Jeffrey Gunzenhauser, said he is closely watching the number of people hospitalized with COVID-19, distraught at the rapid rise. He said he is waiting for the inflection point, the moment when the rate of growth begins to flatten out.
“We have not hit it. It is still picking up faster. The number of people going into the hospitals is pretty much growing more and more every day. It’s not just getting bigger — it’s getting bigger faster,” he said.
Gunzenhauser said that once the county does hit the inflection point, it will still be awhile before it hits the peak. And once it hits the peak, there will still be thousands of more people who continue to be hospitalized as the numbers begin to reduce.
L.A. County has continued to report single-day coronavirus case numbers at or near daily records. On Friday, an independent Times tally found that L.A. County reported 15,749 coronavirus cases, the second highest single-day tally on record; on Wednesday, 22,469 cases were recorded. L.A. County is now averaging about 13,600 coronavirus cases a day over the last week, more than triple the comparable figure on Thanksgiving.
On Friday, 87 deaths were reported in L.A. County, which is now averaging 79 deaths a day over the past week, a record and more than double the figure from Thanksgiving.
As of Friday at 9 a.m., fewer than 70 ICU beds were available across L.A. County, a point-in-time daily tally recorded that actually fluctuates from hour to hour, a significant drop from the midmorning tally of about 100 earlier in the week.
Pleas for further reinforcements of additional medical staff desperately needed have so far largely gone unanswered because, as state officials have warned, there is virtually no more extra medical staff available nationwide to help treat the tsunami of COVID-19 hospitalized patients.
California on Friday broke a record for most coronavirus cases in a single day with 53,326, topping the high last set Wednesday, when 52,330 cases were reported, according to The Times’ county-by-county survey. The state is now averaging more than 40,000 new coronavirus cases a day over the last week, a new record and 10 times the figure from Halloween.
The record for the number of Californians hospitalized for COVID-19 has been broken for 20 days in a row, rising to 16,019 by Thursday, including 3,447 people in intensive care units. COVID-19 hospitalizations have multiplied sevenfold since late October.
The state recorded 265 COVID-19 deaths Friday, its fourth-largest single-day tally. California is now averaging 226 deaths a day, also a new record, and five times the comparable figure from early November.
A doctor at an L.A. County public hospital said this week that there were zero ICU beds left for patients, forcing the hospital to move into surge mode. The hospital was also asking staff to postpone any vacations in the next six weeks, the physician said. The doctor anticipates that deaths will double by January and that the hospital will be treating patients in the hallways with one staff member caring for too many patients.
“With the continued rise in cases and the steep slope of the trajectory that shows no sign in bending, we’re essentially screwed,” the doctor said. “We’re afraid that California is heading towards New York spring status at this rate.”
A nurse at a Kaiser Permanente hospital in L.A. County said his facility is rapidly running out of beds, as he and other staff work six days a week to keep up. Patients without COVID-19 are being put wherever possible to make room for the crush of coronavirus patients.
“We are supposed to be getting the vaccine soon, but no word exactly when,” he said. “It is insanely busy and stressful with constant changes day by day.”
Times staff writers Meredith Blake, Luke Money and Alice Y. Su contributed to this report.


latimes--2020-12-19--California breaks daily coronavirus case record again as deaths continue to rise

More Californians are dying of COVID-19 now than at any other point in the pandemic .
But as ferociously as the coronavirus has spread this autumn , it still continues to stalk certain communities much more than others .
More than 1,500 people lost their lives to COVID-19 in the last week — a number that represents 7 % of the state ’ s more than 22,000 total coronavirus-related fatalities .
The death tolls seen Tuesday , Wednesday , Thursday and Friday — 295 , 394 , 288 and 265 , respectively — represent the four deadliest days the state @ @ @ @ @ @ @ according to data compiled by The Times .
California on Friday broke a record for most coronavirus cases in a single day with 53,326 , topping the high last set Wednesday , when 52,330 cases were reported , according to The Times ’ county-by-county survey .
The state is now averaging more than 40,000 new coronavirus cases a day over the last week , a new record and 10 times the figure from Halloween .
The record for the number of Californians currently hospitalized for COVID-19 has been broken for 20 days in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Thursday , including 3,447 people in intensive care units .
COVID-19 hospitalizations have multiplied sevenfold since mid-October .
The state recorded 265 COVID-19 deaths Friday , its fourth-largest single-day tally .
California is now averaging 226 deaths a day , also a new record , and five times the comparable figure from early November .
Elderly Californians and people of color are being hit disproportionately hard by the latest surge .
L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer warned that the weekly death count in skilled nursing facilities is starting to increase , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ level seen early in the pandemic .
And , while the death rate among white residents remains stable — at one to two per day per 100,000 residents — the death rates for Latino , Black and Asian residents are rising .
Among Latino residents over the last four weeks , for example , the death rate has jumped from 1.4 daily deaths per 100,000 residents to 4.5 daily deaths per 100,000 .
Latino communities are at higher risk for several reasons .
Members tend to be essential workers who must go to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sites rather than work from home , raising the chance they ’ ll come in contact with an infected person .
Some Latino neighborhoods are more densely populated , making the virus easier to spread .
Among Black residents , the death rate has jumped from less than 1 death per 100,000 residents to more than 3 deaths per 100,000 .
And among Asian residents , the death rate has risen from 0.5 deaths per 100,000 residents to 3 deaths per 100,000 .
California is now tallying an average of 203 COVID-19 deaths @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and 35,200 cases a day — both records , and both quadruple the numbers from mid-November .
Younger adults are spreading the virus the most , officials said , but it ’ s the oldest adults , when they get infected , who are dying at the highest rates .
In a week of losses , there was some hope .
The first doses of COVID-19 vaccine have arrived , and hundreds of thousands more are on the way .
Hundreds of L.A. County healthcare workers have received a dose , and that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the end of Friday and roughly 6,000 by Christmas .
“ Our goal is to get to 10,000 workforce vaccinations by the end of the calendar year , ” said Dr. Paul Giboney , associate chief medical officer at the L.A. County Department of Health Services .
But widespread inoculation for the public is probably still months away .
Given how widespread coronavirus transmission is now , officials say it ’ s vital that residents do all they can to keep themselves and their loved ones safe .
“ We need the public @ @ @ @ @ @ @ slow the spread or we will completely run out of [ hospital ] beds , ” Giboney said .
That means wearing masks in public , washing hands regularly and staying home when sick .
Perhaps most critically , officials say , people should keep physical distance from , and avoid gathering with , those they don ’ t live with .
While that last ask could be a bridge too far for pandemic-weary Californians eager to ring in the winter holidays with family and friends , officials say some seeds of today @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Thanksgiving , when too many traveled or got together in defiance of public health warnings .
Making the same choice this time around , officials warn , will only prolong — and potentially worsen — the surge .
“ We are now learning a very painful lesson that , despite how much we want things to go back to normal , this virus is relentless and will continue to spread , make people very ill and , tragically , lead to people passing away , ” Ferrer said in a statement .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ season surge that will further overwhelm our already strained hospitals and healthcare staff .
“ We must all work together to prevent as much death as possible .
”

More Californians are dying of COVID-19 now than at any other point in the pandemic.
But as ferociously as the coronavirus has spread this autumn, it still continues to stalk certain communities much more than others.
More than 1,500 people lost their lives to COVID-19 in the last week — a number that represents 7% of the state’s more than 22,000 total coronavirus-related fatalities.
The death tolls seen Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday — 295, 394, 288 and 265, respectively — represent the four deadliest days the state has seen throughout the entire pandemic, according to data compiled by The Times.
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California on Friday broke a record for most coronavirus cases in a single day with 53,326, topping the high last set Wednesday, when 52,330 cases were reported, according to The Times’ county-by-county survey. The state is now averaging more than 40,000 new coronavirus cases a day over the last week, a new record and 10 times the figure from Halloween.
The record for the number of Californians currently hospitalized for COVID-19 has been broken for 20 days in a row, rising to 16,019 by Thursday, including 3,447 people in intensive care units. COVID-19 hospitalizations have multiplied sevenfold since mid-October.
The state recorded 265 COVID-19 deaths Friday, its fourth-largest single-day tally. California is now averaging 226 deaths a day, also a new record, and five times the comparable figure from early November.
Elderly Californians and people of color are being hit disproportionately hard by the latest surge.
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L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer warned that the weekly death count in skilled nursing facilities is starting to increase, although it hasn’t reached the level seen early in the pandemic.
And, while the death rate among white residents remains stable — at one to two per day per 100,000 residents — the death rates for Latino, Black and Asian residents are rising. Among Latino residents over the last four weeks, for example, the death rate has jumped from 1.4 daily deaths per 100,000 residents to 4.5 daily deaths per 100,000.
Latino communities are at higher risk for several reasons. Members tend to be essential workers who must go to retail stores, manufacturing plants and other sites rather than work from home, raising the chance they’ll come in contact with an infected person. Some Latino neighborhoods are more densely populated, making the virus easier to spread.
Among Black residents, the death rate has jumped from less than 1 death per 100,000 residents to more than 3 deaths per 100,000.
And among Asian residents, the death rate has risen from 0.5 deaths per 100,000 residents to 3 deaths per 100,000.
California is now tallying an average of 203 COVID-19 deaths a day over a seven-day period, and 35,200 cases a day — both records, and both quadruple the numbers from mid-November.
Younger adults are spreading the virus the most, officials said, but it’s the oldest adults, when they get infected, who are dying at the highest rates.
In a week of losses, there was some hope. The first doses of COVID-19 vaccine have arrived, and hundreds of thousands more are on the way.
Hundreds of L.A. County healthcare workers have received a dose, and that number was expected to hit 1,500 by the end of Friday and roughly 6,000 by Christmas.
“Our goal is to get to 10,000 workforce vaccinations by the end of the calendar year,” said Dr. Paul Giboney, associate chief medical officer at the L.A. County Department of Health Services.
But widespread inoculation for the public is probably still months away. Given how widespread coronavirus transmission is now, officials say it’s vital that residents do all they can to keep themselves and their loved ones safe.
“We need the public to listen to these mitigation strategies to slow the spread or we will completely run out of [hospital] beds,” Giboney said.
That means wearing masks in public, washing hands regularly and staying home when sick. Perhaps most critically, officials say, people should keep physical distance from, and avoid gathering with, those they don’t live with.
While that last ask could be a bridge too far for pandemic-weary Californians eager to ring in the winter holidays with family and friends, officials say some seeds of today’s virulent surge were planted around Thanksgiving, when too many traveled or got together in defiance of public health warnings.
Making the same choice this time around, officials warn, will only prolong — and potentially worsen — the surge.
“We are now learning a very painful lesson that, despite how much we want things to go back to normal, this virus is relentless and will continue to spread, make people very ill and, tragically, lead to people passing away,” Ferrer said in a statement. “We can’t afford another holiday season surge that will further overwhelm our already strained hospitals and healthcare staff.
“We must all work together to prevent as much death as possible.”
Times staff writer Colleen Shalby contributed to this report.


latimes--2020-12-18--A breezy, bone-dry Christmas holiday is likely in the Los Angeles region

Areas of severe and extreme drought expanded in Southern California , an area that has received less than 25 % of its normal rainfall during the last three months , the U.S. Drought Monitor reported Thursday .
That ’ s not likely to change in the coming week , as gusty Santa Ana winds bring elevated fire weather conditions to the region through Monday , the National Weather Service said .
More strong , gusty north to northeast winds are possible Wednesday into Thursday , causing elevated to near critical fire conditions at times .
“ The odds are pretty @ @ @ @ @ @ @ slight chance of something on Christmas Day itself , ” said Kathy Hoxsie , a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard .
Some sprinkles are possible , she said , depending on which model you look at .
But it ’ s “ a glimmer of hope that will probably be dashed as we get closer to it.
” She added that if the region goes all the way to the end of December without significant rain , “ that will be unusual.
” All of California is at least abnormally @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
More than 95 % of the state is in at least moderate drought , and a sliver of eastern California , mostly where San Bernardino County borders Nevada , has slipped into the exceptional drought category , according to the latest data .
Southern California joins much of the Southwest in experiencing unusual conditions .
For example , as the Drought Monitor reported , exceptional drought expanded in Clark County , Nevada , the home of Las Vegas .
Through Dec. 1 , McCarran International Airport chalked up its driest six-month period @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on record , having received only a trace of precipitation .
A trace is an amount more than zero but essentially too small to be measured .
Extreme drought also expanded in southwestern Arizona , the Drought Monitor said .
Parker , Ariz. , on the lower Colorado River , has received no precipitation since June 1 .
That sets a record for the driest six-month period ( June 1 to Nov .
30 . )
After a disappointing monsoon season last year , the monsoon failed in the U.S. Southwest this year @ @ @ @ @ @ @ double whammy , ” Hoxsie said , because it didn ’ t get a monsoon and now the precipitation season is late to start .
That also affects Southern California because the region depends on the Colorado River for part of its water supply .
The region also depends for a large portion of its water supply on the Northern Sierra Nevada , a region where rivers flow into some of the state ’ s biggest reservoirs .
As of Friday , the Northern Sierra 8-Station Index is at 38 % of average @ @ @ @ @ @ @ California Department of Water Resources .
The index is the average of eight precipitation measuring sites that provide a representative sample of the Northern Sierra ’ s major watersheds .
These watersheds include the Sacramento , Feather , Yuba and American rivers .
Typically , in a La Niña year like the current one , storms are pushed farther north and Southern California and the Southwest remain dry .
But if the region finds a lump of coal in its Christmas stocking , there is always hope for a belated holiday gift .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ about mid-January , ” Hoxsie said .

More than 95% of California is in at least moderate drought, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor data released Thursday.
Areas of severe and extreme drought expanded in Southern California, an area that has received less than 25% of its normal rainfall during the last three months, the U.S. Drought Monitor reported Thursday.
That’s not likely to change in the coming week, as gusty Santa Ana winds bring elevated fire weather conditions to the region through Monday, the National Weather Service said. More strong, gusty north to northeast winds are possible Wednesday into Thursday, causing elevated to near critical fire conditions at times.
“The odds are pretty darn low, but there is a slight chance of something on Christmas Day itself,” said Kathy Hoxsie, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard. Some sprinkles are possible, she said, depending on which model you look at. But it’s “a glimmer of hope that will probably be dashed as we get closer to it.”
She added that if the region goes all the way to the end of December without significant rain, “that will be unusual.”
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All of California is at least abnormally dry, according to the Drought Monitor. More than 95% of the state is in at least moderate drought, and a sliver of eastern California, mostly where San Bernardino County borders Nevada, has slipped into the exceptional drought category, according to the latest data.
Southern California joins much of the Southwest in experiencing unusual conditions. As the Drought Monitor reported, exceptional drought expanded in Clark County, Nevada, the home of Las Vegas. Through Dec. 1, McCarran International Airport chalked up its driest six-month period (June 1 to Nov. 30) on record, having received only a trace of precipitation. A trace is an amount more than zero but essentially too small to be measured.
Extreme drought also expanded in southwestern Arizona, the Drought Monitor said. Parker, Ariz., on the lower Colorado River, has received no precipitation since June 1. That sets a record for the driest six-month period (June 1 to Nov. 30.)
After a disappointing monsoon season last year, the monsoon failed in the U.S. Southwest this year. The region is experiencing a “double whammy,” Hoxsie said, because it didn’t get a monsoon and now the precipitation season is late to start.
That also affects Southern California because the region depends on the Colorado River for part of its water supply.
Despite recent precipitation, the Northern Sierra is below normal. (Paul Duginski / Los Angeles Times)
The region also depends for a large portion of its water supply on the Northern Sierra Nevada, an area where rivers flow into some of the state’s biggest reservoirs. As of Friday, the Northern Sierra 8-Station Index is at 38% of average for the date, according to the California Department of Water Resources. The index is the average of eight precipitation measuring sites that provide a representative sample of the Northern Sierra’s major watersheds. These watersheds include the Sacramento, Feather, Yuba and American rivers.
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Despite the recent rain we are still running below average with precip across #NorCal. Here is a look at the latest water year numbers. One thing to keep in mind it's still very early in the season. #CAwx pic.twitter.com/HDkIAlUgne — NWS Sacramento (@NWSSacramento) December 18, 2020
Typically, in a La Niña year like the current one, storms are pushed farther north and Southern California and the Southwest remain dry. But if the region finds a lump of coal in its Christmas stocking, there is always hope for a belated holiday gift. “Some years the pattern shifts in about mid-January,” Hoxsie said.


latimes--2020-12-18--L.A. County coroner announces independent inquest into deputy killing of Fred Williams III in Willow

L.A. County coroner announces independent inquest into deputy killing of Fred Williams III in Willowbrook

Los Angeles County coroner ’ s officials announced Friday that the department will conduct an independent inquest into the fatal deputy-involved shooting of a man in Willowbrook , marking only the second independent probe by the coroner into a department shooting in more than 30 years and second under the current administration .
Fred Williams III , 25 , died after he was shot by an L.A. County sheriff ’ s deputy who was chasing him through a backyard after authorities said they saw the parolee holding a handgun in the parking lot of Mona Park on East 122nd Street @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a patrol check of the park because of recent shootings .
It was the first deputy-involved shooting recorded on department-issued body cameras , and the agency released footage of the chase and shooting about two weeks after the incident .
The footage from Oct. 16 shooting shows Williams on top of a garden shed , holding a gun while jumping over a fence , before he was shot .
During the incident , the deputy broadcast over the radio that Williams “ pointed 417 at me , ” referring to the firearm .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ man ’ s father , Fred Williams Jr. , told The Times the body camera footage refutes the deputy ’ s claim .
“ We see the video , we all see the video , and he was shot in the back , ” Williams said .
“ The video clearly shows there was never a gun pointed in [ the deputy ’ s ] direction.
” The coroner ’ s office has not completed the full autopsy report but has determined that Williams died by a “ gunshot wound of back , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Sheriff ’ s Department said a semiautomatic handgun was recovered by homicide investigators .
Before this year , the coroner ’ s office had not launched an independent inquest in more than 30 years .
Then deputies fatally shot 18-year-old Andres Guardado in the back five times during a chase in Gardena in June and put a “ security hold ” on the autopsy , shielding the findings from public view .
The coroner ’ s office eventually made the autopsy findings public anyway , citing the public interest in transparency , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who has come under heavy criticism from other county leaders .
The coroner ’ s office cited similar reasoning Friday in announcing the inquest into Williams ’ death .
“ As with the previous inquest , this proceeding supports the department ’ s mission and purpose to provide independent , evidence-based death investigations , [ and ] addresses the public ’ s interest in the death , ” the agency said in a statement .
Retired Superior Court Judge Candace Cooper , who is overseeing the Guardado inquest , will also oversee the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is scheduled to begin on Jan. 28 , 2021 .
Although the medical examiner ’ s office has already determined the cause of death for Williams , the inquest is a public , quasi-judicial inquiry where witnesses may be called and documents may be subpoenaed in order to inquire into the cause , manner and circumstances of death , coroner ’ s officials said .
In a statement , the Sheriff ’ s Department said it welcomed the investigation .
“ We enthusiastically support the decision by the medical examiner-corner to conduct an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Fred Williams and look forward to the findings , ” the department said .
“ Sheriff Alex Villanueva is committed to transparency and accountability and has been an advocate of utilizing the medical examiner- [ coroner ] Inquest process in order to determine manner and cause of death .
”

Najee Ali, left, and Cliff Smith point to photographs of Fred Williams III, who was fleeing a sheriff’s deputy before being fatally shot Oct. 20.
Los Angeles County coroner’s officials announced Friday that the department will conduct an independent inquest into the fatal deputy shooting of a man in Willowbrook, marking only the second independent probe by the coroner into a department shooting in more than 30 years and second under the current administration.
Fred Williams III, 25, died after he was shot by an L.A. County sheriff’s deputy who was chasing him through a backyard after authorities said they saw the parolee holding a handgun in the parking lot of Mona Park on East 122nd Street. Deputies said they encountered Williams during a patrol check of the park because of recent shootings.
It was the first deputy shooting recorded on department-issued body cameras, and the agency released footage of the chase and shooting about two weeks after the incident.
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The footage from Oct. 16 shows Williams on top of a garden shed, holding a gun while jumping over a fence, before he was shot. During the incident, the deputy broadcast over the radio that Williams “pointed 417 at me,” referring to the firearm.
When the footage was released, the man’s father, Fred Williams Jr., told The Times it refuted the deputy’s claim.
“We see the video, we all see the video, and he was shot in the back,” Williams said. “The video clearly shows there was never a gun pointed in [the deputy’s] direction.”
The coroner’s office has not completed the full autopsy report but has determined that Williams died by a “gunshot wound of back,” according to its online records.
The Sheriff’s Department said a semiautomatic handgun was recovered by homicide investigators.
Before this year, the coroner’s office had not launched an independent inquest in more than 30 years. Then deputies fatally shot 18-year-old Andres Guardado in the back five times during a chase in Gardena in June and put a “security hold” on the autopsy, shielding the findings from public view.
The coroner’s office eventually made the autopsy findings public anyway, citing the public interest in transparency, which infuriated county Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who has come under heavy criticism from other county leaders.
The coroner’s office cited similar reasoning Friday in announcing the inquest into Williams’ death.
“As with the previous inquest, this proceeding supports the department’s mission and purpose to provide independent, evidence-based death investigations, [and] addresses the public’s interest in the death,” the agency said in a statement.
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Retired Superior Court Judge Candace Cooper, who is overseeing the Guardado inquest, will also oversee the probe into the Williams case. It is scheduled to begin Jan. 28.
Although the medical examiner’s office has already determined the cause of death for Williams, the inquest is a public, quasi-judicial inquiry where witnesses may be called and documents may be subpoenaed in order to inquire into the cause, manner and circumstances of death, coroner’s officials said.
In a statement, the Sheriff’s Department said it welcomed the investigation.
“We enthusiastically support the decision by the medical examiner-corner to conduct an inquest into the shooting death of Mr. Fred Williams and look forward to the findings,” the department said. “Sheriff Alex Villanueva is committed to transparency and accountability and has been an advocate of utilizing the medical examiner-[coroner] Inquest process in order to determine manner and cause of death.”
Times staff writer Alene Tchekmedyian contributed to this report.