LOS ANGELES (KNX) — Los Angeles health officials reported that the county reached a grim milestone Monday, with more than 2,010,964 COVID-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.
Public health officials shared the milestone in a statement, along with the news that an additional 13 deaths and 43,582 COVID-19 cases were reported over the weekend. A number that will likely go up after reporting delays are factored in.
The silver lining in the message, health officials said, is that while hospitalizations climb — the virus is not the primary reason for people being admitted.
"Public Health data shows that many positive cases are admitted for reasons other than COVID but, are identified with COVID when tested for COVID upon hospital admission," health officials said.
"These are referred to as incidental COVID hospitalizations. For the week ending December 26th, an estimated 55% of COVID-positive hospitalized patients fell into this category of incidental COVID hospitalizations.
As of Monday, 14% of the COVID-positive hospitalized patients are in the ICU and 7% are on a ventilator, according to officials. 23% of ICU beds are being occupied by COVID-positive cases, an increase of 9% from last week.
COVID-19 and children
The total number of children hospitalized remains low and the proportion of hospitalizations among children is stable, the Department of Public Health said, but the number of children in each age group being admitted to hospitals has "significantly increased" over the last month.
"The largest rise was seen among children 0-4 years old, increasing from four hospital admissions for the week ending Dec. 4 to 58 hospital admissions for the week ending Jan. 1," officials said, adding that they've also seen Increases in children between the ages of 12 and 17.
"With surging transmission and rapidly rising cases and hospitalizations, our already understaffed health care providers are under enormous strain as they try to care for so many COVID infected people, including those with mild illness who are looking for help and support," Barbara Ferrer, the director of Public Health said in a statement.
"Because high community transmission has the inevitable impact of increasing demand for health care services, the best way to protect health care personnel and our capacity to care for both those with COVID and non-COVID illness, is to double-down on reducing transmission."
To reduce the risk of transmission, Ferrer is urging all L.A. County residents to avoid hazardous activities — such as maskless gatherings, crowded events and close contact with others. She also urged all to upgrade masks from cloth to KN95, N95 and other medical-grade masks.
Vaccination
Health officials maintain that the best way to avoid serious illness from COVID-19 is to get vaccinated and boosted.
To learn more about vaccinations or find locations and appointments near you, click here. Information is also available in Spanish, here.