Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti made a dire prediction last week: If the coronavirus continues to spread so rapidly, the death toll from COVID-19 in Los Angeles County will reach 11,511 by the end of the year.

Garcetti’s projection would mean that more than 4,000 Angelenos will die of COVID-19 in the next five weeks alone, more than were lost in L.A. County’s first four months of the pandemic. The mayor pleaded with Angelenos to stay home over the next few weeks and cancel Thanksgiving plans with people outside their households.

“Imagine if somebody said we could do something to make sure those lives were saved,” Garcetti said in a briefing Monday. “Isn’t that something worth fighting against? Aren’t those lives worth saving? You and I both know that answer.”

Coronavirus cases are increasing at an alarming rate in L.A. County, with a record number of people being infected last week. Though it can take several weeks for a sick person to succumb to the virus, an uptick in deaths has already begun, with the county reporting triple the number of average daily deaths than it saw on election day.

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