One person dies from Covid-19 in Los Angeles every eight minutes, according to a new county tweet.
More than 11,000 Los Angeles County residents have died of Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. More than 5,000 of those deaths have occurred in the past two months, according to data from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
“People who otherwise led healthy, productive lives are now dying from a chance encounter with the COVID-19 virus,” LA County Health Director Barbara Ferrer said Wednesday, adding that the county lives more than 200 dead every day.
Cases have increased by 941% since November 1, and so far the rate of new cases in January is twice that of December, according to Ferrer. In the last two months, the positivity rate in Los Angeles County has gone from 3.8% to 21.8%.
Hospitalizations are ten times higher than on Nov. 1, and health services director Christina Ghaly warns that a new rise is expected over the next two weeks. There are currently more than 8,000 people hospitalized, with 20% in intensive care units and 19% in ventilators.
Los Angeles County hospitals continue to operate in contingency care, but given the overwhelming demand, they could venture into crisis care mode. Should it occur, patients could be transferred to other areas and all hospitals will have to stop elective surgeries.