According to Health Officials, Los Angeles County has become the first county to get to 1 million COVID cases in the United States. On Saturday, the county reported over 14,669 new cases, which have taken the total count to about 1,003,923. They reported about 253 recent deaths taking it to 13,741 total deaths since March 2020 in the County.
The state’s Public Health Department confirmed that they’d detected the more contagious UK COVID strain in Los Angeles county, which has caused more unrest in the state.
“The presence of the U.K. COVID variant in Los Angeles County is troubling, as our healthcare system is already severely strained with more than 7,500 people currently hospitalized,” Barbara Ferrer, L.A. County public health director, said in a news release Saturday. “Our community is bearing the brunt of the winter surge, experiencing huge numbers of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths, five-times what we experienced over the summer.”
Barbara states that this new COVID variant will spread quicker at worksites, stores, and at home.
Earlier in January, California witnessed its first case of the UK variant from a traveler in Big Bear. And now, Los Angeles County has just seen its first case as well.
On Friday, the CDC also warned that this new variant would be more prevalent in March this year. And according to health officials, the county is actively trying to vaccinate its 800,000 health workers. And doesn’t anticipate being able to provide shots to its 1.3 million people 65 and older until February.
The health officials have been begging residents to refrain from gathering with non-household members for now till everyone gets vaccinated. Healthcare systems in the region are still overwhelmed with cases, and resources are incredibly thin. The combination of this new variant along with the spike in current Los Angeles COVID cases burden on the healthcare system, residents are urged to limited contact and take all precautions to protect themselves.
Sources:
https://bestmedicaltestingsites.com/big-bear-cases-grow-new-covid-19-variant-cases-in-california/
https://covid19.ca.gov/vaccines/