“The very high numbers that I will report today, unfortunately, are not a surprise,” said Los Angeles head of public health science, Dr. Paul Simon, on Friday.
These figures come two weeks after Christmas. An outbreak of infections two weeks after Christmas was repeatedly predicted by health workers trying to help LA prevent a new outbreak.
“This is clearly the latest increase in winter holidays and New Year’s,” said Simon. “And it is likely to continue in the next few weeks or two. We expect these numbers to remain high in the coming weeks. “
Health officials noted that there was a sudden spike in autumn and Thanksgiving day in addition. Although daily cases have dropped somewhat recently, they have not fallen anywhere near before fall or Thanksgiving Day jumps. This means that the wave of holidays is accumulating on an already high plateau of cases.
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Simon noted that the two-week period between the event and the peak appears to decrease over time. “This may reflect on this sudden increase,” he said.
“If you look at the last 4 days, we saw a very high number,” acknowledged Simon. “It is just a clear indication of what was going on 2 to 4 weeks ago during the holidays. We anticipate, given the large number of cases, that this will continue … in the coming weeks. “
“These current figures could get even worse. We may even see a further increase. It is a matter of great concern, ”said Simon.
“In a sense, our fate has been sealed here,” he continued. “Our hospitals are getting ready. The morgues are getting ready. Although we cannot change the past, we can change the future and we must be more disciplined in our actions. We Tue for.
Los Angeles County reported another 18,313 cases of COVID-19 on Friday, one of the pandemic’s highest daily totals. The number of new cases on Thursday was 19,719 – another almost record – bringing the overall count since the start of the pandemic to 889,405.
Los Angeles County reported its first count of more than 300 coronavirus-related deaths on Friday in 318. By comparison, an average of 170 people die in the county every day from all other causes.
The 318 new deaths bring the total pandemic across the county to 11,863. To make another comparison, this means more deaths in a year than any other cause of premature death, including heart disease, according to the latest county figures.
Dr. Simon noted that Friday marked the one-year anniversary of “when we issued our first Health Alert in LA over Covid-19”.