Los Angeles County crossed another grim milestone in the COVID-19 pandemic on Wednesday with more than 6,000 people now hospitalized. Meanwhile the number of new deaths on Wednesday broke a record, while the number of new cases reported was near record setting on Wednesday, indicating more hospitalizations will be on the horizon.
With the Christmas holiday at hand, health officials again urged residents to stay home and avoid gathering with anyone outside their own household, something that occurred rampantly over Thanksgiving and contributed to the current surge in cases.
“I’m very worried today that there are thousands of LA County residents whose actions are creating tremendous risks and contributing to the continued surge in cases, hospitalizations and deaths,” said Barbara Ferrer, LA County Public Health Director.
“This virus makes people sick because a person with COVID-19 — through their breathing, talking, singing, chanting — expelled the virus in their respiratory droplets and other people nearby were then infected from the droplets,” she said. “This need not happen if we stay away from non-household members as much as possible.”
She added: “With thousands of cases of newly infected people every day, and the fact that many people have no symptoms and simply don’t know that they’re carrying the virus, it is highly likely that every time you and others in your household leave your home, you will come into contact with somebody who’s infected.”
As of Wednesday, there are 6,155 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in Los Angeles County. That’s 289 more people than were hospitalized on Tuesday. That also sets a new record for hospitalizations in the county, beating the previous record of 5,866 which was set on Tuesday.
Of those hospitalized, 20% are in the ICU. That translates to about 1,231 people in the ICU.
The 11-county Southern California region’s ICU bed availability remains at 0%. It first dropped to 0% on Dec. 17 and has remained there ever since.
The Southern California region covers Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Diego, Imperial, Inyo, Mono, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.
The region has been under a state-imposed regional stay-at-home lockdown order since Dec. 7 because of the low number of ICU beds available.
Although that lockdown order was originally scheduled to be lifted on Dec. 28, Gov. Gavin Newsom has indicated it almost definitely will be extended since COVID numbers keep rising. It is likely that the lockdown order will not be lifted until ICU bed availability for the region returns to 15%.
Los Angeles County reported 16,525 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday. The county now has a cumulative total of 663,954 cases since the pandemic began in March.
Health officials announced 145 more people dead from the coronavirus on Wednesday, pushing the county’s cumulative death toll to 9,153 people.
To date, some 4,469,000 people have been tested for the coronavirus since the pandemic began. Of those tested, currently 14% are testing positive, although it has been almost double that at some individual testing sites.
As of Tuesday night, more than 38,800 frontline healthcare workers at acute care hospitals have been vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine.
West Hollywood recorded 14 new cases on Wednesday, for a cumulative total of 1,285 cases since the pandemic began. The city had no new deaths; the cumulative total remains at 10 deaths.
Below are the numbers for areas near West Hollywood:
- Beverly Hills – 37 new cases for a total of 1,440 cases and a total of 14 deaths.
- Carthay neighborhood – 5 new cases for a total of 544 cases and 2 new deaths for a total of 25 deaths.
- Culver City – 20 new cases for a total of 1,079 cases and a total of 38 deaths.
- Hollywood – 49 new cases total of 2,940 cases and a total of 23 deaths.
- Melrose neighborhood – 84 new cases total of 4,359 cases and 2 new deaths for a total of 94 deaths.
- Miracle Mile – 6 new cases for a total of 478 cases and a total of 6 deaths.
- Park La Brea – 7 new cases for a total of 300 cases and a total of 1 death.
- Santa Monica – 59 new cases for a total of 2,348 cases and 1 new death for a total of 57 deaths.
The Carthay neighborhood incorporates the areas of Los Angeles between the Beverly Hills city limits and Fairfax Avenue, with Beverly Boulevard as the northern border and Wilshire Boulevard as the southern border.
The Melrose neighborhood incorporates the areas of Los Angeles east of La Cienega and west of Vermont Avenue, between Santa Monica Boulevard on the north and Beverly Boulevard on the south.
For information about the many resources available to West Hollywood residents who have been impacted by COVID-19, CLICK HERE.
