One person dies from Covid-19 in Los Angeles every eight minutes, according to a new tweet from the county.
More than 11,000 Los Angeles County residents have died of Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic. More than 5,000 of these deaths have occurred in the past two months, according to data from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
“People who otherwise lived healthy and productive lives are now dying from a random encounter with the COVID-19 virus,” LA County Health Director Barbara Ferrer said Wednesday, adding that the county has more than 200 deaths each day. .
Cases have risen by 941% since November 1, and so far the rate of new cases in January is double that of December, according to Ferrer. In the last two months, the positivity rate in LA County has increased from 3.8% to 21.8%.
Hospitalizations are 10 times higher than on November 1, and the director of health services, Christina Ghaly, warns that another increase is expected in the next two weeks. More than 8,000 people are currently hospitalized, with 20% in intensive care units and 19% in ventilators.
Hospitals in Los Angeles County are still operating in emergency care, but given the overwhelming demand, they may be venturing into crisis care. If this happens, patients could be transferred to other areas and all hospitals will have to stop elective operations.