The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health confirms 59 new deaths and 4,592 new cases of COVID-19. This is the largest increase in new cases in L.A. since the pandemic began, surpassing the count from just two days before of 4,244 new cases. Over the last 48 hours there have been 7,350 new cases.
COVID-related hospitalizations are also at a record high of 2,173 people on Thursday. That surpasses the old record of 2,103 people hospitalized, which was also set on Tuesday.
To be absolutely clear, that means L.A. has set records for new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations on two out of the past three days.
Those numbers come on the same day the State of California reported that it’s 7-day running average of daily new cases totaled more than 8,000 for the first time. That average has risen 295 percent in the past month.
“We are seeing a higher rate and higher numbers than we’ve seen before,” said Los Angeles Public Health Officer Dr. Muntu Davis earlier on Thursday.
Hospitalizations are skyrocketing in Los Angeles County. Please wear a cloth face covering and stay at least 6-feet… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…—
LA Public Health (@lapublichealth) July 16, 2020
Dr. Davis indicated health officials are worried about hospital and ICU capacity. He said “all” the hospitals in the region are “looking at implementing surge capacity.”
Asked when those beds may run out, Dr. Davis said, “At this point, we don’t have an accurate number or trajectory” as to when the county will be out of ICU beds, but said the numbers are “skyrocketing.”
The number of ICU beds is more limited, and health officials are closely monitoring that situation.
There are currently 1389 available ICU beds out of a total of about 4800.