Los Angeles County Department of Public Health officials said Wednesday the number of confirmed cases has risen by 138 in the last 24 hours, bringing the overall total to 799 confirmed cases.
Three additional deaths were reported in Los Angeles County in the last 24 hours, and all three were over the age of 65 and had underlying health conditions, Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said in a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
“This brings the number of deaths to 13 in L.A. County,” said Ferrer. “I want to note that we’re no longer including in this count the death of the young person we reported (Tuesday) because we have asked the CDC to complete an investigation on that case.”
Over the last 48 hours, there have been 266 new confirmed cases, which includes 28 cases that are in Long Beach and seven cases in the city of Pasadena.
Ferrer said 40% of the confirmed cases are occurring in people aged 18-40.
Of those confirmed cases, 160 people have at some point been hospitalized, and amounts to 20% of all of the county’s positive cases.
Of those diagnosed as positive in L.A. County, 1% have died and the U.S. mortality rate is 1.5%, said Ferrer.
“I want to note that this is a higher rate than what we experience annually for influenza,” said Ferrer.
Forty-four people are currently hospitalized and 77% are in the ICU, Ferrer said.
“The people who are hospitalized are often very sick, and they need to use intensive services in our hospitals,” Ferrer said, adding that four hospitalized patients are in their 30’s and 26 patients are 60 or older. “As always, confirmed cases are being isolated and close contacts are quarantined.”
This is a breaking news story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
