Los Angeles County Department of Public Health officials pleaded with residents Wednesday amid a “health crisis of epic proportions,” as more than 1 in 5 COVID-19 tests come back positive.
“I have at various times expressed my worry and asked for us to double down. In the past, each of these requests was accompanied by a fair amount of optimism that we could together mount an effective response,” Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said. “Today, I’m more troubled than ever before, and in part, my concern is rooted in the reality that it will take so much more for us to stop the spread, given the high rate of community transmission.”
The Southern California region’s available intensive care unit capacity continued to remain at 0.0% Tuesday — as it has for nearly three weeks now — as hospitalizations in L.A. County again surpassed records, with more than 8,000 hospitalized with COVID-19 as of Tuesday.
The region also fell under new orders issued by the California Department of Public Health Tuesday night, directing that hospitals delay non-essential and non-life threatening surgeries for at least three weeks to provide for beds.
In addition, L.A. County reported the one of the highest single-day death tolls since the onset of the pandemic, with more than 250 deaths reported countywide Tuesday.
Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital also reported an additional death Wednesday — its eighth in the last week.
“We must stop transmissions by relying on each of us to bring our very best effort to this strategy for stopping the spread,” Ferrer added. “The way forward is for every single person to remain diligent for the next several weeks and to take extreme precautions whenever you must absolutely leave your home.”
L.A. County Public Health officials also released the following updated COVID-19 statistics Wednesday:
ICU capacity for Southern California: 0.0%
New COVID-19 cases reported in L.A. County in the past 24 hours: 11,841
Total COVID-19 cases in L.A. County: 852,165
New deaths related to COVID-19 reported: 258
Total COVID-19 deaths in L.A. County: 11,328
Hospitalizations countywide: 8,023; 20% of whom are in the ICU.
Hospitalizations at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital as of Jan. 6: 99, with 754 discharged since the onset of the pandemic.
COVID-19 cases reported in the Santa Clarita Valley in the past 24 hours: 334, 258 of which came from the city of Santa Clarita.
Total COVID-19 cases in the SCV: 18,469
Total COVID-19 deaths in the SCV as of Jan. 5: 129, with seven additional deaths reported by Henry Mayo over the weekend and this week.
The numbers of SCV cases, including all area health care providers’ daily figures and those at Pitchess Detention Center, broken down into region, are as follows:
City of Santa Clarita: 13,157
Unincorporated – Acton: 303
Unincorporated – Agua Dulce: 150
Unincorporated – Bouquet Canyon: 29
Unincorporated – Canyon Country: 540
Unincorporated – Castaic: 3,055 (majority of Castaic cases come from Pitchess Detention Center, exact number unavailable)
Unincorporated – Lake Hughes: 26
Unincorporated – Newhall: 57
Unincorporated – Placerita Canyon: 0
Unincorporated – San Francisquito Canyon/Bouquet Canyon: 9
Unincorporated – Sand Canyon: 10
Unincorporated – Saugus: 99
Unincorporated – Saugus/Canyon Country: 28
Unincorporated – Stevenson Ranch: 668
Unincorporated – Val Verde: 206
Unincorporated – Valencia: 114
To view all coronavirus-related stories, visit signalscv.com/category/news/coronavirus.
