L.A. County Coronavirus Report: Public Health Director Confirms 16 New Deaths, 5,014 New Positive Cases – Update

Alexandra Del Rosario
·3 min read

UPDATE: As the Thanksgiving holiday weekend wraps up, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health reported the latest data on COVID-19 cases Sunday afternoon. Public Health has reported 16 new deaths and 5,014 new positive cases, with the latter being an increase in Saturday’s numbers.

There are now 7,639 deaths to date as well as 395,843 positive cases. There are currently 2,049 people hospitalized with COVID-19 with 24% are in the ICU. Of the more than 3,712,000 individuals tested; 10% of all people tested positive.

PREVIOUS: Los Angeles residents may have trudged through the Thanksgiving holiday during the Covid-19 pandemic, but Los Angeles Public Health director Dr. Barbara Ferrer said Saturday that the county’s far from in the clear.

During a press briefing, Ferrer confirmed a total of 3,143 new Covid-19 cases and, 19 deaths and 1,951 hospitalizations. The latest count of coronavirus cases may be lower than previous weeks since a number of testing centers county-wide were closed for the Thanksgiving holiday. Ferrer said Angelenos can expect the case count to rise as testing facilities reopen in the upcoming week.

The latest stats come a day after Los Angeles officials enacted another safer-at-home order on Friday. Starting Monday Nov. 30 to December 20., Los Angeles residents should remain at home as much as possible, limiting their exposure to people outside their immediate households when possible.

“If we really care about each other and we care about those essential workers taking risks everyday…we need to not gather with anyone outside our immediate household at least for the immediate future,” Ferrer advised.

Ferrer also announced that various businesses must comply with limited maximum customer capacity policies for the coming weeks. Non-essential services can only open to 20% maximum capacity and essential retail stores to 35% max capacity, making this holiday shopping season a challenge for both customers and employees.

While Angelenos may be tempted to head to shopping centers and celebrate the various upcoming winter holidays, doing so could put many vulnerable family members at risk. She added that failing to abide by official orders and mask and social-distancing ordinances may result in tragic results.

“Dead people don’t get a second chance,” she said.

To date Los Angeles County has identified a total of 390,891 Covid-19 cases and 7,623 deaths related to the coronavirus.

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