Los Angeles County’s public health director Dr. Barbara Ferrer said April brought “devastating losses” as the countywide coronavirus death toll climbed to 1,172 Friday.
In the beginning of the month, there were 65 deaths attributed to COVID-19 confirmed in the county.
“The numbers represent real people who have lost their lives to COVID-19, and there are families and friends everywhere in our county who are grieving their loss,” Ferrer said.
Recording another 62 deaths and 1,065 new cases Friday, L.A. County’s total of 24,215 cases represents nearly half of everyone who has tested positive for the virus in the state and more than half of Californians who have died due to the respiratory illness it causes.
The county holds just about a quarter of the state’s population.
And while county and state officials move toward easing some restrictions from the stay-at-home orders in the coming weeks, Ferrer said L.A. County is not out of the woods yet.
“Recovery will help us get people get back to work,” Ferrer said. “But without taking extraordinary measures to reduce our exposures to people who are infected, and to keep our distance as much as possible, we could easily see a big spike in new cases.”
Scientists conducting serology testing in the county have previously unveiled preliminary results that estimate that hundreds of thousands of adults in L.A. County may have already had the coronavirus, even without showing symptoms. But that’s still a small percentage of all residents.
“Ninety-five percent of us have still not been infected,” Ferrer said. “And until there’s a vaccine, most residents in L.A. County can be infected at any time over the months to come.”
With the danger of infection lingering in the county, people will still have to follow protocols like keeping 6 feet away from others or wearing masks, even as more businesses are allowed to reopen.
“The conditions we faced in February, March and April haven’t changed significantly,” Ferrer said. “We still have a new virus that easily spreads among people who are in close contact with each other.”
As the number of infections continues to grow, institutional settings remain among the hardest hit. Such settings — which include shelters, nursing facilities, jails, prisons and treatment centers — are tied to about 48% of deaths in the county, health officials said. Most of those patients who died were residents of nursing homes.
A total of 316 such facilities and businesses are under investigation by public health officials after reporting at least one confirmed or suspected case of the virus, officials said.
Together, facilities in the county have accounted for 5,658 of all the county’s COVID-19 cases.
As testing supplies remain limited, particularly for swabs, the county has been focusing on using its current stock of kits to test people in settings where they congregate close together, as well as residents with symptoms, people over the age of 65 and those who have underlying health conditions, the county’s director of health services Dr. Christina Ghaly said.
Meanwhile, Mayor Eric Garcetti has taken a different approach to expanding testing.
At testing sites within the city of L.A., anyone can get tested — including those not showing any symptoms. But that option won’t be available at testing sites located outside the city, within the county of L.A.
Ghaly said the county’s capacity to test residents is continuously improving, and in a few weeks, it might have a “much more liberated test capacity.”
“The supply chain is improving … day by day and week by week,” she said.
So far, 4,880 people who tested positive for the coronavirus have at some point been hospitalized—that’s about 21% of all the county’s cases.
On Thursday there were 1,959 people hospitalized for the respiratory illness in the county, 27% in intensive care units and 19% on ventilators.
“When we started the month, we had about 900 in the hospital and we are ending with almost 2,000 people hospitalized for diseases and illnesses related to the coronavirus,” Ferrer said.
She added that 92% of those who have died from COVID-19 countywide have had underlying health conditions. She urged those with conditions that affect their immune systems to stay home and avoid contact with others.
Ferrer reminded all residents to continue following public health guidelines as the county heads into another warm weekend.