Los Angeles County public health officials on Thursday reported more than 4,500 new cases of coronavirus, breaking the record for the highest single-day increase in new infections.
There were a total of 4,506 new cases, marking the second time this week that the county broke the bleak record, after registering 4,200 cases of the virus on Tuesday.
“Each case represents one person who is capable of infecting at least one other person, and in all likelihood is,” Barbara Ferrer, the county’s director of health, said in a statement. “If you do the math, it’s easy to see why the alarm.”
A similar increase occurred in California, which has now accounted for 364,834 confirmed cases of the virus and 7,490 deaths, according to the Los Angeles Times’ California Coronavirus Tracker.
On Tuesday, the state recorded its highest number of new cases in a single day, 11,142 infections. Tuesday also marked the second-highest number of single-day deaths in the state, with 144 deaths counted, according to the tracker.
Los Angeles County, which has recorded a total of 147,713 cases of the virus, also reported 48 new deaths from COVID-19 on Thursday and is now on track to top 4,000 deaths from the virus by the end of Friday.
“This week we have made important achievements,” said Ferrer. “We have reported most cases in a single day, the highest number of hospitalizations and tragically high death rates.”
Los Angeles County reported a record number of confirmed coronavirus patients at its hospitals on Tuesday and then again on Wednesday. There were 2,173 confirmed coronavirus patients in county hospitals on Thursday, with 27% in intensive care and 17% in ventilators.
20 percent of patients are between the ages of 18 and 40, a higher proportion than at any other time during the pandemic, officials said Thursday.
The proportion of test results that yield positive results also continues to increase, with more than 1.44 million people evaluated as of Thursday and 9% with positive results. According to experts, an increase in the positivity rate indicates that the disease is spreading more rapidly in the community.
Authorities believe the increase in disease transmission began in late May, when more people began leaving their homes to return to work, attend social gatherings, and visit restaurants and other recently reopened establishments.
It takes up to two weeks for the virus to incubate and then an additional one to two weeks for cases to result in hospitalization or death.
County health officials said earlier this week that the coronavirus is spreading rapidly in workplaces that do not follow safety rules. The sectors with the highest number of cases are food processing and distribution facilities, including meat packing plants, manufacturing facilities, garment factories, and wholesale warehouses.
The worst local outbreak in the workplace occurred at Los Angeles Apparel, a South Los Angeles-based clothing manufacturer. More than 300 of the company’s nearly 2,300 employees tested positive for COVID-19 and four died, Muntu Davis, the county health official, said Thursday.
The county public health department said it first closed operations at the apparel maker on June 27 after inspectors found “gross violations” of public health infection control orders and said the company has not cooperated with an investigation into a reported coronavirus outbreak.
Company founder Dov Charney questioned those claims and questioned whether there was evidence that factory workers were being infected at a higher rate than those living in the surrounding community.
Higher death rates among low-income communities and black and Latino residents in Los Angeles County have continued to be a key concern for health officials. Data shows that deaths among Latino residents account for 60% of deaths that occurred outside of skilled nursing facilities in the county.
“Unfortunately, a lot of disproportion can be attributed to the fact that a significant number of essential workers are low-income or people of color,” Davis said. “Often low-income people cannot stay home to work, and at the beginning of the pandemic, few protections were offered at many workplaces.”
Authorities estimate that the effective transmission rate of the coronavirus has slightly increased to 1.07, according to data released Wednesday, although the actual number could be between 0.94 and 1.2. That means officials estimate that, on average, every 1 person infected with the virus transmits it to another 1.07 people.
In an attempt to curb the rebound, Governor Gavin Newsom ordered bars in Los Angeles County and several others to be closed on June 28, followed by dinner at an indoor restaurant on July 1.
About two weeks have passed since then, but it will take at least three weeks to know whether the actions taken that week decisively changed the course of the pandemic, said Dr. Christina Ghaly, director of health services for Los Angeles County. Ghaly said Wednesday that if people returned to safer behavior: staying home as much as possible, avoiding social gatherings, covering their faces, keeping physical distance and workplaces by following new safety protocols, Los Angeles could avoid overwhelming hospitals and ICUs.
Still, given the exponential nature of the virus’s growth, officials have expressed concern over the outlook in the coming days. The more than 4,500 cases identified Thursday could lead to more than 18,000 people infected “in a few weeks,” Ferrer said.
“And this is just a day of new cases,” he said. “Without aggressive action on the part of each person, we will never stop the spread again.”
