Public Health Officials Issue Urgent Plea as 10 People in L.A. County Test Positive for COVID-19 Every Minute

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health or Public Health confirmed 137 new deaths and 12,617 new cases of COVID-19. The number of new cases and deaths reported Jan. 11, is likely to reflect a reporting lag from over the weekend.

Since this surge began in early-November, deaths increased by more than 1,000%.  Deaths increased from 12 deaths a day in early-November to more than 200 daily reported deaths last week.

To date, Public Health identified 932,697 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County and a total of 12,387 deaths.  

Every minute, on average, 10 people in L.A. County test positive for COVID -19, and these 15,000 individuals who test positive each day were capable of infecting others for two days before they had any symptoms or knew they were positive.  At least 10-12% of people infected with the virus end up hospitalized at some point, and more than 1% of people diagnosed with COVID-19 end up dying.

Now is the time to avoid, as much as possible, contact with others that aren’t in your household. When you must go out, to work or for essential services, always wear a mask, keep your distance from others, wash your hands frequently, and bring sanitizing wipes with you to wipe down your cell phone, your car keys, your workstations, the door handles and anything you touch and anything other people are touching. This is the time to be extremely cautious and very careful.

The damaging impact to families and local hospitals from this surge is the worst disaster Los Angeles County has experienced in decades. And, as with other terrifying situations, the end of the surge only happens when more people and businesses take control and do the right thing.  The biggest single factor contributing to the surge comes down to the actions individuals are taking. The county needs everyone to do the right thing – to protect each other in order to stop the transmission that is now occurring at epic proportions. 

Public Health will host a COVID-19 Vaccine Town Hall on Jan. 19 to allow residents to learn more details about the vaccine and its program to immunize as many people as possible in the coming weeks and months. The town hall will be streamed live on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube @lapublichealth.  

Details: www.publichealth.lacounty.gov.

The Reopening Protocols, COVID-19 Surveillance Interactive Dashboard, Roadmap to Recovery, Recovery Dashboard, and additional things you can do to protect yourself, your family and your community are on the Public Health website, www.publichealth.lacounty.gov.