Los Angeles County this weekend surpassed one million COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic and reported its first case of the most contagious variant initially discovered in the UK last year. .
On Saturday, the county recorded more than 14,000 cases and about 253 deaths and 7,597 hospitalizations, according to statistics from the country’s public health department.
The figures push Los Angeles to the nation’s first county in terms of COVID-19 cases, which add up to more than the next two counties, Cook and Maricopa, combined.
Although California has been one of the nation’s strictest states in implementing restrictions, it has continued to experience an increase in cases in the past two weeks, averaging more than 41,000 new coronavirus cases each day.
Although California has the second highest number of deaths in the country, the state ranks 39th in the number of deaths per capita at 81.8.
Strong forecasts contrasted with an optimistic press conference on Friday by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Gov. Gavin Newsom at Dodger Stadium, which is becoming a vaccination center capable of delivering 12,000 doses a day.
California has received more than 3.5 million doses of the vaccine and has administered just over one million doses. Newsom said the state was about to exceed its goal of giving about 1.5 million doses on Friday.
The governor tried to shed light on encouraging trends: hospitalizations, admissions to intensive care units, and positivity rates (the percentage of people tested who have the virus) have declined over the past seven days.
Fox News has contacted Governor Newsom’s press office with a request for comment, but has not received any news at the time of publication.
The governor’s message on Friday contrasted with his warning earlier last month that strict blockade measures would be put in place at the regional level when the bed capacity of the ICU falls below 15%. Days later, Los Angeles County received new closure orders.
Meanwhile, the county public health department confirmed the first case of COVID-19 variant, B.1.1.7, in a person who recently spent time in Los Angeles county.
Although it was the first confirmed case of the variant in the county, public health officials believe it is probably already spreading to the community and continue testing samples.
The public health department reiterated the basic safety guidelines of COVID-19 to prevent the spread of variant B.1.1.7, which is said to spread faster than other variants, but does not necessarily cause more serious diseases or increase the risk. risk of death.
Louis Casiano and The Associated Press of Fox News contributed to this report.