LA County Reports Over 43,000 Cases Setting New Daily Record; Health Systems Facing Rising Pressure Due to Healthcare Workforce Shortage  

43,712 New Positive Cases and 28 New Deaths Due to COVID-19 in Los Angeles County

As cases continue to surge, L.A. County today recorded over 43,000 cases, setting a record for one day. This follows yesterday’s record number of over 37,000 cases, which was the previous record for highest daily case counts.

As Public Health continues to respond to this latest surge, the county’s health system is experiencing significant healthcare workforce shortages due to high rates of COVID transmission.  As of January 6th, there are an additional 973 newly reported cases since the previous report ending on December 30th; this is an increase of over 47% since the prior reporting period.  In total, there have been 50,353 healthcare workers and first responders confirmed with COVID-19 in Los Angeles County.

As of January 6th, skilled nursing facilities and hospitals reported the highest share staff cases among health care setting sites. Among occupations, nursing staff accounted for 27% of new cases. Public Health is also reporting that among all healthcare workers, over one-third (39%) reported being exposed to a known case within their facility, either a patient and/or co-worker.

Given the powerful protection offered by booster doses, on December 23rd, 2021, LA County revised its Health Officer Order to align with the State of California Health Officer Order requiring booster doses for all healthcare workers. The revised order required booster-eligible workers in healthcare settings be boosted by February 1st, 2022, or be tested for COVID-19 twice a week beginning December 27th (if in acute health care or long-term care settings). “I know so many are mourning the loss of a loved one and send my heartfelt condolences and wishes for healing,” said Dr. Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health.  “Keeping healthcare workers safe is critical to maintaining functionality across our healthcare facilities when surges lead to staffing shortages and rising rates of hospitalizations. Across multiple healthcare settings, our health care personnel have given their all and been fully vaccinated at high levels for many months,” Ferrer continued. “Every resident can also do their part to protect our healthcare personnel and hospitals. Please get vaccinated or boosted as soon as possible if eligible.  Vaccinated individuals are between ten and thirty times less likely to need hospital care than those unvaccinated. We ask that you do not go to the emergency room unless you need care for a serious medical concern and please do not call 911 unless you have a life-threatening emergency.”

Today, Public Health confirmed 28 additional deaths and 43,712 new cases of COVID-19. Of the 28 new deaths reported today, three people were between the ages of 30 and 49, four were between the ages of 50-64, 15 were between the ages of 65-79, and four were over the age of 80 years old. Of the 28 newly reported deaths, 24 had underlying conditions. To date, the total number of deaths in L.A. County is 27,756. Information on the two deaths reported by the City of Long Beach is available at www.LongBeach.gov

Public Health has identified a total 1,887,526 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County. Today’s positivity rate is 20.9%.

There are 2,902 people with COVID-19 currently hospitalized. Testing results are available for more than 10,235,300 individuals, with 17% of people testing positive.

To keep workplaces and schools open, residents and workers are asked to:

• Adhere to masking requirements when indoors or at crowded outdoor spaces, regardless of vaccination status
• Stay home is you are sick and adhere to isolation and quarantine requirements if you are infected with COVID or a close contact of an infected person

Residents are legally required to be isolated if they have a positive COVID test result and vaccinated close contacts with symptoms and unvaccinated close contacts need to be quarantined.

For updated isolation and quarantine guidance, please visit www.publichealth.lacounty.gov

For information on where you can get tested, please visit www.covid19.lacounty.gov/testing/

COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective and are recommended for everyone 5 years old and older to help protect against COVID-19. Vaccinations are always free and open to eligible residents and workers regardless of immigration status. Appointments are not needed at all Public Health vaccination sites and many community sites where first, second, and third doses are available.

 To find a vaccination site near you, or to make an appointment, please visit:

www.VaccinateLACounty.com (English) or www.VacunateLosAngeles.com (Spanish).

If you need assistance, you can also call 1-833-540-0473 for help:

Finding an appointment

Connect to free transportation to and from a vaccination site, or

Schedule a home visit if you are homebound.

For more information regarding COVID-19 in LA County you can also visit the Public Health website at www.publichealth.lacounty.gov here you will find information on:

COVID-19 sector protocols & best practices,

COVID-19 Vaccine Dashboards, and

COVID-19 Surveillance Interactive and, Recovery Dashboards

 Please see additional information below:

Cases through 6:00pm 01/06/2022
	Total Cases	NEW
Laboratory Confirmed Cases	1887526	43712
— Los Angeles County (excl. LB and Pas)*	1789649	41448
— Long Beach	80,009	1852
— Pasadena	17,868	412
Deaths	27756	28
— Los Angeles County (excl. LB and Pas)	26303	26
— Long Beach	1080	2
— Pasadena	373	0
Age Group (Los Angeles County Cases Only-excl LB and Pas)
– 0 to 4	48487
– 5 to 11	108862
– 12 to 17	118944
– 18 to 29	432705
– 30 to 49	601270
– 50 to 64	315102
– 65 to 79	121690
–  over 80	41460
–  Under Investigation	1129
Gender (Los Angeles County Cases Only-excl LB and Pas)
–  Female	906798
–  Male	837688
–  Other	828
–  Under Investigation	44335
Race/Ethnicity (Los Angeles County Cases Only-excl LB and Pas)
–  American Indian/Alaska Native	3088
–  Asian	95553
–  Black	93966
–  Hispanic/Latino	852786
–  Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander	7825
–  White	239466
–  Other	169543
–  Under Investigation	327422
Hospitalization (Los Angeles County Cases Only-excl LB and Pas)
–  Hospitalized (Ever)	111813	**DATA  Under reported
Deaths Race/Ethnicity (Los Angeles County Cases Only-excl LB and Pas)
–  American Indian/Alaska Native	62
–  Asian	3391
–  Black	2354
–  Hispanic/Latino	13888
–  Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander	97
–  White	6273
–  Other	202
–  Under Investigation	36