Los Angeles County public health officials reported 12,694 confirmed cases of COVID-19 over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, with 13 COVID-related deaths and 486 hospitalizations.
The county reported 2,901 new cases Monday, 4,108 cases Sunday and 5,685 on Saturday, raising the cumulative total from throughout the pandemic to 2,974,197. The daily rate of people testing positive for the virus was 3.7% as of Monday, May 30.
Health officials have noted that many COVID-positive patients were admitted to hospitals for reasons other than the virus. But county Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said those patients still require advanced levels of care that put added stress on hospitals.
“They require a lot of different resources that are of higher intensity, so that in and of itself is more strain on the system,” Ferrer said.
Ferrer announced last week that increasing case numbers across the county have led to a rise in virus outbreaks at skilled nursing facilities, prompting some tighter infection-control measures. Staff at nursing facilities are now required to wear N95-level masks at all times and undergo twice-weekly testing, while residents must undergo weekly testing. All communal dining has also been halted, and all non-essential indoor group activities are being paused.
Los Angeles County remains in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s “medium” category of virus activity. Under CDC guidelines, counties in the “medium” category will move to “high” if the rate of new virus-related hospital admissions reaches 10 per 100,000 residents, or if 10% of the county’s staffed hospital beds are occupied by COVID-positive patients.
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BFD says
Yawn…