LA County has over 1 million coronavirus cases

by



[ad_1]

The department also announced its first confirmed case of the UK variant of Covid-19 B.1.1.7 on Saturday, in a man who had traveled to LA County but is now isolating himself in Oregon.

Public Health said it believed the most contagious UK variant was probably already spreading in the community and urged residents to follow safety measures “more diligently”.

“The presence of the UK variant in Los Angeles County is troubling as our healthcare system is already under severe strain with over 7,500 people currently hospitalized,” said Director of Public Health Dr Barbara Ferrer, in a statement.

“Our community is taking the brunt of the winter push, facing a large number of cases, hospitalizations and deaths, five times more than we have experienced over the summer.

“This more contagious variant makes it easier to spread infections in workplaces, in stores and in our homes. We are in the midst of a public health emergency, so do all you can to protect yourself and those you love. love, ”Ferrer said.

LA County adds more space to store victims' bodies

The total of LA County cases exceeds that of Cook County of Illinois (429,270 cases) and Maricopa County of Arizona (407,631 cases) combined, according to data from John Hopkins University.

Cook and Maricopa counties currently have the second and third highest number of cases in the country, respectively, according to data from JHU.

“There are currently 7,597 people currently hospitalized for Covid-19, and 22% of those people are in intensive care,” LA County Public Health said in its statement.

The Census Bureau says LA County is the most populous county in the country with an estimated 10.1 million people, followed by Cook County (5.2 million), Harris County in Texas (4.5 million) and Maricopa County (4.2 million).

‘Waking up every day in a nightmare’

LA City Fire spokesman David Ortiz spoke to CNN at Dodger Stadium where vaccines were being administered on Saturday.

Ortiz said the situation in Los Angeles was “surreal”.

“It feels like we wake up in a nightmare, every day. We’re trying to make a dent in this huge pandemic of people getting sick, hearing how many people are dying every day, that’s, it’s unfathomable ,” he told me.

How to get information on Covid-19 vaccination by state

“We in our fire department have lost two of our limbs – two precious limbs – to this disease, and it comes back home to see nurses begging people to stay home, not to organize. these holidays.

“It’s, it’s heartbreaking to see them working themselves to the point of exhaustion and keep coming in every day – every day – and getting in shape and going to work on all these people – taking care of all of them. these people.”

Ortiz said many deaths from Covid-19 were unnecessary, but the vaccination program gave hope.

“Because every person who gets vaccinated is an opportunity for a person who can be saved by this vaccine. And it is one less person who will fall victim to this virus,” he said.

National Guards are helping process Covid-19 deaths at the LA County Medical Examiner's Office on January 12.

The coronavirus has already infected and killed more people in the United States than in any other country.

John Hopkins University said there were 145,234 new cases of Covid-19 and 2,458 new deaths from the virus reported in the United States on Saturday, bringing the US total to at least 23,669,315 cases and 394,413 deaths .
At least 31,161,075 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been distributed across the United States, and at least 12,279,180 of these have been administered, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

CNN’s Stella Chan contributed to this report.

[ad_2]

Source link