Los Angeles County scientists now estimate that 1 in 3 residents has contracted COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic, the Los Angeles Times reported on Thursday.
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Health officials estimate that one in three LA county residents has been infected with the coronavirus
That would mean that at least 3 million of the county’s 10 million residents have been infected – more than triple the number confirmed through testing, according to the Times.
“Unfortunately, we are still engaged in behaviors that facilitate the spread of the virus, so you can still find many people susceptible to infection,” Roger Lewis, director of COVID-19, hospital demand modeling for the Los Angeles County Department of Health. Services, he told the newspaper.
For collective immunity through vaccination to become an effective virus control strategy, about 75% of county residents would need to develop immunity, Lewis estimated.
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The county has become a hot spot for coronavirus in a state that leads the country in infection rates.
As the virus continues to devastate the area, the emergency room’s capacity has dropped to zero percent. Some hospital facilities have opted to keep patients in gift shops and other unassigned treatment areas. Ambulances in Los Angeles County were even told not to transport patients who had a low chance of survival this month in order to conserve oxygen availability as the pandemic worsens.
“The high number of COVID-19 patients in our hospitals is distressing not only for those who have COVID-19, but for everyone else in the county who needs intensive care during this period,” said the county health department in an announcement. “People who have had a stroke or heart attack or who have had a traumatic injury in a car accident are having more difficulty accessing health care compared to normal times.”
On January 4, the county health department reported that 7,697 people were hospitalized with coronavirus. In early November, the number of hospitalized patients was 791. By the end of December, the county had reached the bleak 10,000 deaths from the virus.
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