LA County's COVID Hospitalizations Holding Steady as Cases Have Risen

[pstokely]

https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/la-countys-covid-hospitalizations-holding-steady-as-cases-have-risen/2915028/

Health officials have noted that many of the COVID-positive patients were admitted to hospitals for a reason other than the virus, and many only realized they were infected when they were tested upon admission. But county Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer stressed that even though patients may have been admitted for other reasons, the fact they are infected with the virus forces hospitals to take extra precautions to prevent it from spreading, adding to the strain on the health care system overall.

The county and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are keeping close watch on hospital numbers. LA County is already in the CDC's "medium" category for virus activity. It will move into the "high" category if its average daily rate of new COVID-related hospital admissions rises above 10 per 100,000 residents, or if the percentage of staffed hospital beds occupied by COVID-positive patients tops 10%.

The figures have both been slowly rising over the past several weeks, with the rate of new admissions reaching 6.4 per 100,000 residents on Thursday, up from 5.2 a week ago. The portion of hospital beds in the county occupied by virus patients was 3.1% as of Thursday, up from 2.7% from a week ago.

If the county is moved into the "high" category, it will re-impose a mandatory indoor mask-wearing mandate.

[Skittles]

1. but elsewhere....

https://www.wltx.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/covid-19-cases-rising-in-south-carolina-dhec/101-651668e4-5dea-4bc2-9062-4954a2409895