The Antelope Valley Times

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LA County tops 20,000 new COVID infections

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Los Angeles County reported 20,198 new COVID-19 infections on Thursday, lifting the county’s overall total since the pandemic began to 1,669,545.

“We are, in fact, experiencing the worst of the surge at the moment with the rising number of cases,” County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said during an online briefing.

Another 24 COVID-related deaths were also reported, giving the county an overall death toll of 27,625. The number of COVID-positive patients in county hospitals also continued rising, with state figures showing the number at 1,365 as of Thursday, up from 1,251 on Wednesday. The number of those patients in intensive care was 214, up from 198 a day earlier.

Ferrer said that while circulation of the highly transmissible Omicron variant of COVID-19 has led to more fully vaccinated people getting infected, hospitalizations continue to be affecting primarily unvaccinated people. She said the hospitalization rate for unvaccinated people is 28 per 100,000 residents, while the rate for the vaccinated has remained relatively flat at 1 per 100,000.

“Vaccination continues to be highly protective against hospitalization,” Ferrer said.

Ferrer said statistics show unvaccinated people are 14 times more likely to die from the virus than the vaccinated. She also noted that overall, death rates have remained relatively flat in the county, despite the dramatic surge in infections, but she said that could change.

“Deaths fortunately remain low and they haven’t changed, but this is because we’re only about a week out from when our hospitalizations started rising,” she said.

Officials have said about 90% of the COVID deaths during the pandemic occurred in people who had underlying health conditions. The most common conditions are hypertension, diabetes and heart disease. According to county figures, of the more than 6.3 million fully vaccinated people in the county, 127,172 have tested positive for the virus, for a rate of 2%, while 3,094 have been hospitalized, for a rate of 0.05%. A total of 602 fully vaccinated people have died, for a rate of 0.01%.

Ferrer and county Supervisor Holly Mitchell urged residents to be cautious as they celebrate New Year’s Eve, with Ferrer noting, “The risk of virus transmission has never been higher in our county.” She urged people to avoid large gatherings, and gather outside whenever possible. People who have underlying health conditions or aren’t vaccinated should avoid gatherings altogether, Ferrer said.

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2 comments for "LA County tops 20,000 new COVID infections"

  1. So once it became clear that covid was not in fact a pagan god visiting vengeance on the unwashed Trump voters alone, the media and Democrats are now willing to admit the following:
    1. Cloth masks are ineffective against omicron (Leanna Wen, CNN);
    2. The vaccinated can spread and get covid;
    3. The death rate is comparable to the flu (Chris Hayes);
    4. Many people are entering hospitals with covid, not from covid (Fauci);
    5. Natural immunity is a reason omicron hasn’t been as virulent (Fauci);
    6. We have to take into account societal needs, not just spread prevention (CDC);
    7. The asymptomatic should not be tested (NFL);
    8. We should focus on hospitalizations and deaths, not case rate (Biden);
    9. Children are not at risk and schools should remain open;
    10. Covid is predominantly an illness affecting the immunocompromised and elderly and we should not shut down society.
    Those of us in reality have been saying all this for months and most of it since May 2020. But your political priors were more important than the data. You had to have your demonization narrative.
    So welcome to reality. And f*** all y’all for pretending you didn’t know this so you could have fun crapping on Trump and DeSantis and all your red state relatives.
    And btw, AOC and all you Leftist covid fanatics — those whose virtue signaling authoritarian lockdown nonsense that has resulted in millions of lives destroyed — stay in your states and leave mine alone.
    We chose data and freedom. You chose alarmism and unearned moral superiority. Stay in NY, NJ, CA, and the rest — and enjoy the actual paranoid nanny state you created among your friends who reward you for telling them they will kill their kids and grandma if they don’t panic.
    Oh yes, and Happy New Year to all.