The number of hospitalized patients with confirmed coronavirus infections reached new heights this week in Los Angeles County as the region enters what officials have called an “alarming and dangerous phase” of the pandemic.
On Monday, 2,193 patients were in hospitals with confirmed coronavirus infections, a one-day record for the county. The number fell slightly on Tuesday to 2,173, before recovering to its highest level on Monday on Wednesday, county data shows.
Hospitalizations, which had been decreasing since early May, began to increase in mid-June and continued to increase in July. Records show that hospitalizations of patients with confirmed coronavirus infections have increased approximately 31% in the past three weeks.
“The change from decreasing rates to increasing rates happened very quickly, and now we see a three-day average of more than 2,000 people hospitalized on a given day, which is more people hospitalized each day by COVID-19 than at any other time during the pandemic, ”said public health director Barbara Ferrer on Wednesday.
Younger people, between the ages of 18 and 40, are also being hospitalized at a significantly higher rate than in previous weeks, according to the data.
“What this really means to us is that we must start and continue to take the steps that protect our healthcare infrastructure so that hospitals can manage the growing number of people who need hospital care,” said Ferrer. “This is why it is so important to follow public health directives such as staying home, avoiding close contact with people you don’t live with, and wearing a covered face at all times when you’re away from home.”
Statewide, more than 6,700 patients who tested positive for COVID-19 are hospitalized, according to the latest numbers. That is also a new record.
It also reflects trends in other southern California counties, including Orange, San Bernardino, and Riverside counties.
Health officials in Orange County reported that 722 patients with confirmed cases of COVID-19 were hospitalized as of Tuesday, a new daily record for the county. The data showed that as of last week, the number of patients in hospitals had increased 97% in three weeks, an indicator that according to health experts shows that the virus is spreading faster in the region.
The increase has prompted hospitals across the county to begin preparing for a wave of sick patients, according to Dr. Clayton Chau, Director of the Orange County Health Care Agency.
“These trends are very concerning, and we can expect the impact on our healthcare system to worsen in the coming days and weeks,” Chau said last week. “If the increase increases, or beyond, your ability to mobilize resources, that will cause real tension. A strain on hospital systems means a strain on the ability to care for all patients, both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 people. “
Earlier this month, Los Angeles County officials planned to run out of hospital beds in two to three weeks, with the number of ICU beds possibly depleted sometime in July.
“If the trajectory continues, the number of beds in the ICU, our most limited resource, is likely to be inadequate in the near future,” officials wrote in a memo issued July 4 by the County of California Department of Public Health. Los Angeles to healthcare providers.
While the death rate is currently stable in Los Angeles County, the increase in hospitalizations will likely lead to an increase in deaths in the coming days and weeks, Ferrer said.
Experts say the deaths are a lagging indicator of the spread of the coronavirus and likely reflect exposures to the virus that occurred four to five weeks earlier. Los Angeles County officials announced 44 new deaths Wednesday, bringing the total deaths to more than 3,900, as well as 2,758 new cases, bringing the cumulative count to more than 143,000.
Dr. Shruti Gohil, associate medical director for epidemiology and infection prevention at UC Irvine, told The Times last week that while those numbers help paint a general picture of the number of viruses in the region, the data from Hospitalization is a better indicator of serious cases in the community.
“If you look at the number of people requiring hospitalization, it gives you a better idea of the tip of the iceberg,” Gohil said. “There is a large part of the population under that tip that indicates widespread community transmission.”
Times editor Luke Money contributed to this report.
