COVID-19 hospitalizations in Los Angeles County are over 900

Los Angeles (CNS) — Los Angeles County reported 8,891 new cases of COVID-19 and 7 additional deaths associated with the virus on Sunday. This may reflect delays in reporting on holidays and weekends.

Also, on Sunday, the number of residents in the county hospitalized with the coronavirus increased from 849 the day before to 904, according to the latest state statistics. Of those patients, 188 were in the intensive care unit. One more person from Saturday. The number of hospitalized COVID patients has increased in recent weeks after dropping to 551 in November.

The latest figures are in the midst of a surge in reported cases with warnings from the county’s highest health authorities that infections could reach near-record levels by the end of the year.

Supported by a highly contagious variant of Omicron, the average daily rate of virus-positive people has risen to 15% as of Friday, more than triple the count’s week ago, according to the Los Angeles County Public Health Service. became.

Public health director Barbara Ferrer said on Wednesday that this dramatic increase in infectious diseases could reach the highest level of pandemic with more than 20,000 cases per day by the end of the year. I warned that there was.

According to Feller, the county is not immediately considering returning to the blockade or strict restrictions on other public activities, but will depend on the actions taken by the population to slow the spread of the virus.

“I’m always transparent and honest, and for variants like Omicron and other variants that may occur in the future, I have to put all the options on the table,” she said. “All the tools we have must be available to protect people’s lives and livelihoods and … to avoid overwhelming the hospital system.

“… If we can all do this, we all promise to celebrate as safely as possible, which means we may change some of our plans. No, OK, “she said.

Feller has prevented infected people from becoming seriously ill and has put a strain on health care workers, similar to the surge last winter when thousands of COVID patients were seen in county hospitals. I acknowledged the achievement. However, death and hospitalization are considered leading indicators, so these numbers could increase significantly in the coming weeks.

Feller said the majority of people hospitalized for the virus have not been vaccinated, and the number of hospitalizations for vaccinated residents has remained low since shots became available. Insisted. As of Wednesday, unvaccinated people had a hospitalization rate of 25 in 100,000, compared to 1 in 100,000 vaccinated, according to county statistics.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health said Friday that it is expanding access to free COVID tests amid rising demand during the holidays.

“The demand for COVID-19 testing is steadily increasing, and county residents are rushing to be tested before they meet with their loved ones, as a direct result of the surge in new cases in LA County,” officials said. Said.

Changes that take effect on Friday include:

• Extension of business hours on the site throughout Los Angeles County.
• Additional week and weekend dates.
• An additional mobile test unit in the hit area.
• Resume the Holiday Home Test Collection program with new guidelines to reach more people and make them easier to take tests. The link can be found at https://covid19.lacounty.gov/hometest.

Any county resident who believes to be symptomatic or exposed to COVID-19 can order a home test kit. This requires mailing a swab collection for PCR test results.

The county has recorded 1,616,033 cases of virus-related COVID-19 and 27,546 deaths since the outbreak of the pandemic. According to authorities, about 90% of deaths occurred in people with basic health. The most common conditions are high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease.