LA County health officials today reported another 20,414 cases of COVID-19 and 207 deaths. Of those recently reported deaths, 40 are still from Christmas Day backlog, when a Spectrum outage delayed reporting.
The municipality also broke another hospitalization record, with 7,613 COVID-19 patients now being treated. To put this in context, there are about 1,000 more people than last week. Of these patients, 21% are in the ICU.
At the same time, the state reported more coronavirus deaths in a single day to date: 585.
Cathy Chidester, director of the county’s emergency medical services agency, said this week the team was unable to keep up.
“It’s like the deer in the headlights. They are overloaded, they are pale. They are trying to do the best they can with limited resources right now because there are so many patients. But believe me, it is a disaster.”
And that is what she means by “disaster”: hospitals are so overloaded that ambulances wait seven or eight hours in emergency rooms. Therefore, patients are being treated in the ambulance instead of the hospital. Most importantly, Chidester says the delay means fewer ambulances to answer 911 calls and longer response times.
Health officials are very concerned about the post-New Year increase in people gathering, despite repeated calls to skip the festivities this year. This increase can overwhelm a health care system that is already struggling to keep up to date.
Chidester calls what is happening in hospitals now “a hidden disaster”.
“It is not a fire. It is not an earthquake,” she explained. “It is not a train accident that is in the public eye and they can see what is happening and can avoid this area. Everything is happening behind the doors of homes and hospitals, so no one really – or the general public – does is seeing what’s going on. “
County public health director Barbara Ferrer said she expects trends in record cases, hospitalizations and deaths to continue through January – and even afterwards – unless most of us change our behaviors.
The latest figures from LA County came as US Army Corps of Engineers teams prepared to help six Los Angeles area hospitals update their aging oxygen delivery systems.
A statement from the governor’s office says that the volume of oxygen flow needed to treat patients with COVID-19 with respiratory problems is overloading senior technicians at these facilities. Hospitals are:
- Adventist Health White Memorial Hospital in Los Angeles
- Beverly Community Hospital in Montebello
- Emanate Health Queen of the Valley Hospital in West Covina
- Lakewood Regional Medical Center
- Mission Community Hospital in Panorama City
- And PIH Health Hospital in Downey.
These evaluations can begin as early as Saturday, January 2.
GENERAL LOOK AT LA COUNT NUMBERS:
Here’s a look at the long-term trends in the county. To see more, visit our California COVID-19 Tracker and choose the county of LA or any other county in California that interests you. These figures are current since Thursday, December 31:


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