All LA County Hospital patients are unvaccinated people, official says

As the Delta variant continues its rapid spread in Los Angeles County, Dr Christina Ghaly says unvaccinated people now account for all COVID-19 hospitalizations at county-run hospitals.

“To date, we have not had any patient admitted to a DHS hospital that has been fully vaccinated with the J&J, Pfizer or Moderna vaccine,” Dr Christina Ghaly, director of the county health services department, said on Tuesday. from Los Angeles. . “Every patient we have admitted for COVID has not yet been fully immunized.”

State and county data shows the highly contagious Delta variant is spreading rapidly among those who have yet to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.

The number of coronavirus infections in the county has been increasing for nearly a week, surpassing 1,000 new cases for the fifth day in a row on Tuesday. The daily average of new cases has jumped nearly 500% over the past month.

LA County Again Reports Over 1,000 New COVID-19 Cases As Schools Debate Return to Campus

California reported 3,256 new cases of COVID on Monday – the highest one-day total since early March.

This surge in cases is a concern among doctors and officials who say the Delta variant is the greatest COVID threat to those who haven’t been vaccinated.

“More than 99% of the COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths we see are in unvaccinated people,” Los Angeles County public health director Barbara Ferrer said Monday in a statement.

The figures show that the vaccines work well against the Delta variant.

“At this point, it is truly a preventable disease, a preventable infection, and healthcare workers will continue to do all they can to support the lives and health of those who arrive, but it really has been a very difficult year, and I think it is made all the more difficult because we see the suffering that these patients and their families are going through, and it is completely preventable at the moment, ”said Dr Ghaly.

As a state, California’s vaccination rate is better than the national average. As of Monday, 63% of Californians had received at least one dose and 51% were fully vaccinated, compared with 56% of all Americans who received at least one dose and 48% who are fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease. Control and Prevention. In Los Angeles County, 70% of residents 16 and older have received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to the county health department. Nationally, 68% of Americans 18 and older have received at least one dose.

ABC News contributed to this report.