Los Angeles County hospitalizations eclipse 4,000 for second straight day as Omicron continues to fuel spate of cases – CBS Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – The Los Angeles Department of Health’s daily COVID-19 report was released Friday afternoon and indicates hospital admissions continue to rise as the country is gripped by the Omicron variant fueling the winter surge in the coronavirus pandemic.

Friday is the second straight day that the total number of hospitalizations dwarfed 4,000, up nearly 100 from Thursday – 4,175 and 4,257 respectively. These are the highest reported numbers since February 2021.

CONTINUE READING: LA County’s COVID Positive Hospital Patients Exceeds 4,000; Riverside County reports an increase in pediatric cases

Nearly 600 of these patients are currently in the ICU, accounting for nearly 25% of the ICU patients in the county alone. The report noted that’s a number nearly 5% higher than the summer delta increase in 2021, when patients in intensive care units with COVID-19 made up 20%.

For the fourth day in a week, the county has reported totals above the 40,000 mark with 40,535 on Friday. That’s nearly 5,000 fewer than Thursday’s report of 45,076 — the second-highest reported total since the pandemic began.

According to LA County, 80% of ICU beds were occupied as of Friday night.

Another 48 deaths were also reported, marking the second straight day of at least 45 deaths, again the highest total since February 2021.

CONTINUE READING: Orange County’s hospital admissions stabilize for the first time since December, despite rising case numbers

In response to the steadily increasing numbers appearing in reports every day, the Los Angeles County Director of Public Health continued to reach out to the public’s efforts to reduce the rising number of cases, noting that in the face of an immense Strain is felt by the recent spike, which “can be mitigated by reducing transmission of the virus, so fewer people are seeking medical help,” she said.

To that end, she urges the public to exercise caution when attending indoor events and to reconsider attending larger events, particularly given the high portability of the Omicron variant. She also advises Angelenos to take all necessary precautions and make “strategic decisions to minimize community transmission,” including upgrading their mask material from cloth masks or face coverings to surgical-grade masks such as the N95, KF94, or KN95, as “a high quality and A well-fitting mask blocks COVID virus particles,” she said.

Ferrer also urged that people continue to be vaccinated or boosted when they are eligible, nothing that “given that unvaccinated people are two to four times more likely to be infected than vaccinated people, getting vaccinated and boosted results in less spread.” will”.

In other local areas, Orange County, while indicating on Thursday that hospitalization rates appear to be stabilizing, also reported increases in both case counts and hospitalized patients on Friday.

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