LA County Reports Another Record-Setting Day As COVID-19 Caseload Passes 500,000 Mark
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Los Angeles County reported another record-setting number of daily COVID-19 cases Friday as the caseload officially passed the 500,000 mark.
The county reported 13,815 new cases on Friday, above the record set Thursday of 12,819 and well beyond the previous record set Sunday of 10,528.
The new diagnoses brought the county's total caseload to 501,635 since the start of the pandemic.
Health officials also reported another 50 virus-related deaths Friday, raising the countywide death toll to 8,199.
"Over the best seven days, we've reported an average of 10,200 new cases of COVID-19 each day," L.A. County Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer said.
Two weeks ago, the county was averaging 4,200 new cases per day.
"We're in uncharted territory at this point," county Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said. "We're seeing daily numbers of cases and hospitalizations that we've not experienced and frankly did not anticipate. Our intensive care unit capacity continues to drop. We're on a very dangerous track to seeing unprecedented and catastrophic suffering and death here in L.A. County if we can't stop the surge. And in order to stop this very dangerous surge, today I'm making a request to everyone in L.A. County to stay home as much as possible."
Hospitalization numbers also continued a troubling climb. Ferrer said as of Friday, 3,624 people were hospitalized with the virus and 23% of those people, roughly 830, were in intensive care.
The state now estimates the ICU bed availability in the 11-county Southern California region at 6.2%, down from 7.7% on Thursday.
The figure does not necessarily reflect a real-time picture of actual available staffed beds, since the state adjusts the percentage based on the ratio of COVID-19- positive and non-coronavirus patients.
Ferrer said if current trends continue, the number of coronavirus patients hospitalized and in intensive care will double in two weeks.
(© Copyright 2020 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)
