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Los Angeles County reported more than 5,000 new cases of the coronavirus on Thursday, the most the county has seen in a day since the start of the pandemic.
The scale of the figure shows the coronavirus epidemic is reaching devastating new heights and emphasizes that no one should underestimate the extent of its spread, according to Dr Muntu Davis, the county’s health official.
“We are now seeing a much faster increase than what we saw during the summer,” he said in a briefing.
In addition to the 5,031 new cases, Davis also announced that there are now 1,238 patients with COVID-19 hospitalized across the county, a figure that has also increased steadily in recent weeks.
Although infections are skyrocketing at a faster rate than the county has ever seen before, Davis pointed to the previous summer surge as proof that – through collective caution and vigilance – the community can make a difference. .
“It is possible to do it again,” he said, “but it takes each of us, whatever our beliefs, whatever we think, to follow the practices we know to slow the spread of this virus and helps limit the daily number of cases we see now and the hospitalizations and deaths we will see as a result.
LA County is far from alone in feeling the pain of a resurgent pandemic. Coronavirus cases are increasing at an all-time high across California as the state works frantically to turn the tide of new infections.
In the week-long period that ended Wednesday, the state has averaged more than 10,000 new cases per day – an unprecedented number that has more than tripled from a month ago, according to an analysis of the Los Angeles Times.
The state has crossed the 10,000-case threshold four times since last Thursday, including each of the past three days.
California has never seen such a high daily case count – even during the midsummer surge, which was previously the most expansive and deadly period of the COVID-19 pandemic.
While the number of raw cases is alarming, on their own, officials say the real concern is that a spike in new infections also tends to increase hospitalizations.
Most of those who test positive will eventually recover, and many do so without needing to be admitted for professional medical care. However, “about 12% of those cases end up in the hospital,” according to California Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly, “and when you look at a high number of cases day in and day out, and this is maintained, which is exactly what worries us in terms of the saturation of our hospital system. “
Los Angeles County officials sounded the alarm on Wednesday, saying unless things change, demand for local hospitals and intensive care beds could soon exceed supply.
“Obviously, we are at a crossroads in the COVID-19 pandemic again,” Dr Christina Ghaly, county health services director, said in a briefing. The county is “in a dangerous place for all of our cases and hospitalizations.”
“The message is very clear,” she added. “It is highly likely that we will experience the highest hospitalization rates we have seen in the COVID-19 pandemic to date over the next month or so, unless we take immediate action to dramatically reduce transmission within our communities.
Even ahead of Thursday’s mind-boggling total, daily LA County coronavirus case totals are already approaching record territory.
Wednesday’s tally of 3,795 cases was the fifth-largest daily total on record since the start of the pandemic – and the highest number since July 29, when 4,793 new infections were reported, according to the Times coronavirus tracker.
Just two weeks ago, the seven-day average of daily coronavirus cases in LA County was around 1,400. As of Wednesday, that number had more than doubled to more than 2,900 cases per day.
If the average daily number of cases in the county exceeds 4,000 over a five-day period, officials say they will order outdoor dining areas at restaurants to close, meaning restaurants will not be able to serve food. food for take out and delivery.
If the five-day average reached 4,500, officials pledged to take more dramatic action: instituting a stay-at-home order for at least three weeks, as well as a 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew that exempt only essential workers.
“I don’t think it’s inevitable that we get there,” County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said on Wednesday. “I hope that with every bone in my body, we won’t make it. We set thresholds so that everyone knows what triggers additional actions. The hope is that we are doing whatever we can to start right now. We’re a little late, to be honest.
Unless the number of cases drops dramatically over the next few days, the county may have no choice but to break that glass.
“If the numbers stay high, then potentially by Sunday we might have the five-day average higher than we’d like to see and we’d need to implement a more secure home order,” said Davis.
As has often been the case throughout the pandemic, however, how expedited health orders will be enforced remains somewhat of an open question.
“It would be great if we were really involved in discussing these plans because if we are the ones implementing them and we are not involved in making the plans or whatever it will not work,” he said. LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said Wednesday.
Villanueva was questioned in a briefing about his department’s plan to enforce a ‘curfew’ which was due to start on Friday – an apparent reference to the county’s announcement earlier this week that restaurants, brasseries, bars, wineries and non-essential retail establishments must close after 10 p.m. at 6 am from that day.
The sheriff’s department, he replied, “will continue to intervene until we have more information.”
“We will have this conversation, and we will also have it with the LA County Police Chiefs, and we will come to an agreement on what we want to do to move forward,” he said. “And we will always seek to improve public safety.”
LA County isn’t the only region heading into uncharted waters as the wave continues.
San Diego County has recorded an average of 884 daily cases over the past seven days, much worse than its previous summer high.
Santa Clara County – the most populous in northern California, which is often a proxy for the rest of the Bay Area – has seen its average daily workload triple in the past month.
The statewide spike comes as the United States surpassed 250,000 deaths from COVID-19 – the highest documented pandemic death toll of any country. This figure includes more than 18,400 Californians.
The latest outbreak of cases has yet to result in an increase in the number of deaths statewide. In LA County, the average number of daily deaths has fallen to levels not seen since the pandemic’s early onset – a decrease that is “likely, in part, due to improved treatment for those critically ill with the disease. COVID-19, ”Ferrer said.
Experts predict, however, that the current surge in coronavirus infections will lead to an increase in the number of daily deaths from December.
“We should expect that, with the rapid increase in cases and hospitalizations,” Ferrer said, “it is also likely that we will tragically see an increase in the number of people dying from COVID-19.”
Given the scale of the outbreak, California health officials have urged residents for weeks to reconsider their Thanksgiving plans and not to travel or congregate with those they don’t live with.
“It has been an extremely difficult year for almost everyone, and we don’t celebrate the holidays the way we want – traveling, seeing friends and family, throwing parties and doing so many activities that we look forward to. – because these activities are just not safe, ”Ferrer said.
Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added their voices to that chorus on Thursday.
“The safest way to celebrate Thanksgiving this year is at home with the people in your household,” said Erin Sauber-Schatz, who leads the CDC’s Community Response and Critical Population Task Force, during ‘a briefing.
Bloomberg contributed to this report.
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