Los Angeles County Coronavirus Update: COVID-19 On Track To Become Second-Leading Cause Of Death in L.A., Says Health Director

Tom Tapp
·4 min read

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On Wednesday, Los Angeles Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer reported 3,266 new coronavirus cases in the region for a total of 164,870 cases. Ferrer said the 7-day average of daily new infections has more than doubled in the past month. The daily positivity rate of new tests is now 8.5 percent.

“This week, I believe, could be a turning point,” said Ferrer.

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“COVID-19 appears to be on track to claim more lives in L.A. County than any other disease than coronary heart disease,” warned the director. Flu, she said, is nowhere near as deadly as COVID-19. In the first six months of 2020, COVID-19 killed twice as many people in the region as did the flu over the 8-month flu season this year and last.

One big component of the increases is that, according to the director, “nearly 60 percent of the new cases we’re seeing are among young adults.” She indicated that hospitalizations among that group are increasing, as well.

Ferrer said there were a near-record 2,207 COVID-related hospitalizations as of Wednesday. That’s just 25 patients below the all-time high of 2,232, which was recorded on Monday. It marked the fourth day in a row that hospitalizations were above 2,000.

Given the lower demand for ICU beds and ventilators among young people, there has been a projected change in the need for ICU beds and ventilators. The capacity of those currently seems adequate.

But, said Dr. Christina Ghaly is the Director for the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, “The number of staffed ICU beds may be inadequate.”

The number of staffed ICU beds is “hovering between 130-160 beds on a given day,” said Ghaly. That’s for a population of 10 million. If there is an additional demand, there could be a need for a surge in beds. “The main issue is staffing,” said Ghaly, noting that it takes a higher level of staffing to maintain an ICU bed.

There were 64 new deaths, for a total of 4,213. “Deaths are on a downward trajectory,” said Ferrer, but that number could quickly increase due to the number of patients hospitalized.

This came as Governor Gavin Newsom on Wednesday reported a record 12,807 new coronavirus cases on Monday. He said this total was “the highest in the nation.” The previous record came on July 7 of 11,694.

California now has 413,576 confirmed cases of COVID-19. That tops the 408,886 seen in New York State as of Wednesday. New York was previously the hardest-hit state in the union.

According to a calculation by the Sacramento Bee, that means about 1 in 96 state residents have or have had the virus.

California’s hospitalizations due to COVID-19 increased by 79 to a total of 7,170. That means the number of hospitalizations has more than doubled in the state in just under six weeks. The number of virus-related ICU patients in the state rose by 52 to 2,058 total.

Two days after California Governor Gavin Newsom ok’d it, Los Angeles County is allowing barbershops, hair and nail salons and some related personal care services to reopen under modified rules. Read them here.

Services must be provided outdoors. Services that cannot be provided outdoors must be discontinued until such time as indoor operations are permitted to resume. Any personal care services provide outdoors must be in compliance with the requirements of the local permitting agency. Services that cannot be performed with face coverings on both the worker and customer or that require touching the customer’s face, e.g., eyelash services, eyebrow waxing and threading, facials, etc., are not permitted.

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