With ICUs in LA County already overflowing, COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths soar to staggering heights.
On average, two people an hour are now dying of COVID-19.
More than 21,000 new cases are being reported. Even if you take out the backlog of about 7,000 cases, it's by far the highest one-day total we've seen so far.
And the county's estimated COVID-19 transmission rate is going up, which means we can expect to see even bigger numbers of new cases and several thousand more people who will end up needing hospital care.
Dr. Christina Ghaly, the county's health services director, says hospitals are "under siege" and the worst is yet to come.
"We have a problem and at this point, all our hospital systems can do is brace for these days and weeks to come. Our emergency rooms cannot keep up when they are functioning as an ICU. Our operating rooms cannot perform as many surgeries as they should when those staff are needed to care for COVID patients and when the space is needed for inpatients who no longer fit in the regularly licensed areas of the hospital," Ghaly says.
It's now estimated that one in every 80 county residents is infected, may not know it and may be unknowingly passing on the virus to others.
Total confirmed COVID-19 cases have topped 539,000 and close to 8,600 people have died.