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The county of Los Angeles has recently noted an increase in deaths caused by coronavirus
During last week, the county has recorded an average of 24 deaths from Covid-19 daily, compared to 14 from a month ago.
Los Angeles reported 39 deaths from Covid-19 on Wednesday and 45 on Thursday, the latter of which is the highest daily death toll recorded during the fall and winter.
The Director of Public Health, Barbara Fe rrer, said Thursday that he believes there are still people infected with the previously dominant Delta variant who have been dying in Los Angeles County hospitals.
“Many people are sick for quite some time and many are hospitalized for quite some time before they pass away, so it’s likely that most of the deaths we’re seeing are still Delta-related, though not entirely,” Ferrer said.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, expressed the same sentiment earlier this week.
“Given the large number of cases, we may see deaths from Omicron. But I suspect that the deaths that we are seeing now are still from Delta,” he said on Wednesday. see the impact of Ómicron on mortality”.
Statewide, 108 Californians have died on average from Covid-19 per day for the past week, according to data compiled by the Los Angeles Times. That’s more than double the level of two weeks ago.
There is increasing evidence that Omicron spreads much faster than the Delta variant, but causes less severe illness for many.
But the unprecedented increase in cases overall remains a challenge.
Los Angeles County hospitals are struggling to provide medical care, hampered by a shortage of staff much worse than last winter’s coronavirus surge.
Many healthcare workers, exhausted by the pandemic, have quit and many of those who remain have tested positive for the virus and are isolated at home. Health care facilities are busier this year, because there is more demand for care not related to COVID-16.
The number of people hospitalized for all reasons is also increasing and has reached 15, in Los Angeles County. That is close to the peak of 19,500 of the increase last winter, said Ferrer.
Patients with Covid-19 also represent a growing share of Los Angeles County intensive care unit patients, nearly 25%. That figure was 10% around Christmas.
During Delta’s summer surge, that number hit a maximum of 20%, and last winter it reached a maximum of 70%.
“This means that Omicron is causing not only an increase in the census in hospitals, but it is also driving increases in the proportion of ventilated and ICU patients,” said Ferrer.
“And although, fortunately, this is not at the levels we saw last winter, these numbers serve as a stark reminder that, for a growing number of people, Omicron is causing serious illness.”
Omicron is the dominant coronavirus strain in the US and accounts for approximately the 98% of new cases nationwide, according to the CDC.
New data from Southern California provides more evidence that the Omicron variant is causing less severe illness than Delta, the culprit in last summer’s wave.
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