COVID-19 Cases, Hospitalizations and Deaths Continue to Surge in L.A. County

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) has confirmed 142 new deaths and 29,464 new cases of confirmed COVID-19. The numbers today reflect 13,185 cases reported today and 15,538 cases from yesterday along with 131 deaths yesterday and 5 deaths reported today. Yesterday’s case numbers were delayed due to the service interruption caused by an outage with Spectrum Service in the Los Angeles area. The number of deaths reported today are an undercount due to the reporting lag associated with the Spectrum outage and the Christmas holiday.

To date, Public Health has identified 706,448 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County and a total of 9,438 deaths.

There are currently 6,770 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19, and 20% of these people are in the ICU.

In order for us to stop the surge, L.A. County residents will need to use the tools at hand to slow community transmission and reduce the number of infected people. The strategies that work remain the same: no gatherings/events with others outside of your immediate household, always and correctly wear face coverings/masks when around others, and always maintain your physical distance from others who are not from your household. During this surge, everyone should also stay at home except to provide or receive  essential services, avoid all non-essential travel, get tested if you have symptoms or an exposure, and isolate immediately from your family and others if you have symptoms or test positive for COVID-19. If we take these actions, we will save lives.

“We extend our deepest sympathies to the many families who are spending the holiday weekend grieving the loss of a loved one due to COVID-19, we wish you healing and peace,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “People mixing with others not in their household has driven the COVID-19 pandemic in L.A. County to the most dangerous levels that we have ever seen. The overwhelmed hospitals are the saddest proof of this reality. To honor our health care workers and for the safety of your family and friends, please delay travel plans and gather only with members of our household. These actions will save lives.”

Of the 136 deaths reported today (not including Long Beach), 61 people that passed away were over the age of 80 years old, 42 people who died were between the ages of 65 and 79 years old, 28 people who died were between the ages of 50 and 64 years old, four people who died were between the ages of 30 and 49 years old and one person that died was between the ages of 18 and 29 years old. Of the deaths reported today, 102 deaths were people with underlying health conditions, including 47 people who were over the age of 80 years old, 34 people who were between the ages of 65 and 79 years old, 18 people between the ages of 50 and 64 years old, two people between the ages of 30 and 49 years old and one person between the ages of 18 and 29 years old. Six deaths were reported by the city of Long Beach.

Ninety-one percent of the people who died from COVID-19 had underlying health conditions. Of those who died, information about race and ethnicity is available for 8,897 people (99 percent of the cases reported by Public Health); 52% of deaths occurred among Latino/Latinx residents, 24% among White residents, 14% among Asian residents, 9% among African American/Black residents, less than 1% among Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander residents and 1% among residents identifying with other races. Upon further investigation, 315 cases and three deaths reported earlier were not L.A. County residents.

Testing results are available for more than 4,573,000 individuals with 15% of all people testing positive. Upon further investigation, 239 cases reported earlier were not L.A. County residents.

The Reopening Protocols, COVID-19 Surveillance Interactive Dashboard, Roadmap to Recovery, Recovery Dashboard, and additional things you can do to protect yourself, your family and your community are on the Public Health website, www.publichealth.lacounty.gov.

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