L.A. County Reports Another 20,414 COVID-19 Cases as Hospital Crisis Worsens

Los Angeles County reported 138 more COVID-19 deaths and another 15,701 new cases Saturday, as the county surpassed the 800,000- case mark.

A significant number of deaths reported Saturday were from the backlog associated with the Spectrum outage and Christmas holiday reporting delays, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

To date, there have been 10,682 deaths and 806,210 coronavirus cases. The case load has doubled in the last month.

The number of coronavirus patients in county hospitals rose to 7,627 people, and 21% of them are in the ICU. Conditions continue to worsen at hospitals in the county, with ambulances waiting up to eight hours to off-load patients, leading to a shortage of paramedic crews on the streets and longer 911 response times.

“Our deepest condolences go out to the many families mourning a loved one who passed away from COVID-19 and you remain in our thoughts as we begin this new year,” Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer said on Saturday.

“The strategy for stopping the surge is fairly straightforward. When people stay away from other people, the virus cannot spread as it is doing now. The more we stay home and the more we avoid in-person activities with other people we don’t live with, the more we reduce the spread of the virus.

“While health officer orders create the framework for protecting each other, it is our actions that stop people from being hospitalized and dying. When we follow the public health safety directives with intention, we avoid getting and transmitting COVID-19; this is how we stop the surge,” Ferrer said.

The most recent figures from the county showed a total of 773 available and staffed hospital beds on Friday, including just 57 adult ICU beds. Those numbers change rapidly throughout the day.

With increased hospitalizations come increased deaths, and the county on Thursday reported a record 290 fatalities — though some of those deaths were attributed to the reporting backlog dating back to the Christmas holiday weekend. Ferrer noted that 86% of people who have died from COVID-19 in the county had underlying health conditions, down from more than 90% in the early days of the pandemic.

That drop “indicates that, in fact, there are more people than ever not only passing away, but passing away without any underlying health conditions.”

Ferrer again pointed to younger residents for driving up the number of cases. She said among people aged 30 to 49, an average of 4,419 people per day are testing positive for the virus, an 850% increase from early November, when an average of 463 tested positive daily. Among 18-29-year-olds, the daily average has more than doubled.

But those younger patients aren’t the ones dying from it. In a standard pattern, younger residents are being infected more often, then passing the virus to older residents, who are at higher risk of being hospitalized or dying. Ferrer noted that among people aged 80 and older, an average of 40 people are dying every day from the virus — up from four in early November.

“With no decline in the number of new cases, our hospitals continue to be overwhelmed,” Ferrer said. “As more and more people are rushed to hospitals, the tragic fact is that hundreds more people will die every week from COVID-19. These trends unfortunately will continue into January, and if we do nothing, definitely beyond.”

Ghaly noted that many coronavirus testing sites will be closed Friday due to the New Year’s Day holiday.

Chidester said if residents could see what’s happening inside hospitals, they would see the crisis in the eyes of health care workers.

“It’s like the deer in the headlights,” she said. “They are overwhelmed. They are pale. They are trying to do the best they can with limited resources at this point because there’s so many patients. … When you go into the hospital and into the ICUs, it’s still very quiet, but believe me, it’s a disaster. It is just heart-wrenching what is happening within our hospitals. … There is no doubt, and I’ll tell you right now, we are in the midst of a disaster.”

More than 4.76 million individuals had been tested as of Saturday, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, with 16% of people testing positive.