LA County Exceeds 5,000 COVID-19 Hospital Admissions, Reports 4 New Cases of MIS-C in Children

LOS ANGELES (KABC) – Los Angeles County has broken its record for the number of people currently hospitalized for COVID-19, reporting more than 5,000 on Friday.

The province announced a total of 5,100 hospitalizations, along with 96 new deaths and 16,504 additional cases of COVID-19. Four additional cases of the coronavirus-linked multisystem inflammation syndrome in children, known as MIS-C, were also reported.

Of the people currently hospitalized, 20% are in the ICU.

“As of Monday, LA County has reported more than 71,000 new COVID-19 cases, an acceleration of cases never seen before in our community,” said LA County Department of Public Health. “As the number of cases continues to increase, the total number of people who become seriously ill or die will also increase.”

Health officials say the current number of hospital admissions is accelerating at an “alarming rate.”

Meanwhile, the four new cases of MIS-C bring the total number of cases in LA County to 49. All 49 children diagnosed with the rare disease were hospitalized. Last week, the county confirmed that one child died of MIS-C, the first of such a death in the county.

In late October, Los Angeles County health officials reported a total of 43 known cases locally.