According to a new tweet from the county, a person dies every eight minutes from Covid-19 in Los Angeles.
Since the pandemic began, more than 11,000 Los Angeles County residents have died of Covid-19. More than 5,000 of those deaths have occurred in the past two months, data from the LA County Department of Public Health shows.
“People who otherwise lived healthy and productive lives are now dying from a chance encounter with the COVID-19 virus,” Barbara Ferrer, LA County Health Director, said Wednesday, adding that the county suffers more than 200 deaths every day.
The number of cases has increased by 941% since November 1, and so far the number of new cases in January is double the number in December, Ferrer said. In the past two months, the positivity rate in LA County has increased from 3.8% to 21.8%.
Hospital admissions are 10 times higher than on Nov. 1, and Christina Ghaly, director of health services, warns that another rise is expected within the next two weeks. More than 8,000 people are currently hospitalized, 20% of whom are in intensive care units and 19% on respiratory equipment.
Los Angeles County hospitals are still active in emergency care, but can get into crisis care given the overwhelming demand. When that happens, patients can be transferred to other areas and all hospitals must stop elective surgery.