Percentage of COVID death in the hospital doubles amid L.A. surge - Los Angeles Times

The percentage of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in L.A.

In early November, when the current coronavirus surge began, there were fewer than 20 COVID-19 deaths per day, on average.

County’s 14,000-plus COVID-19 deaths have been reported since New Year’s Day.

The county accounts for roughly 41% of California’s 35,000 cumulative COVID-19 deaths, despite being home to only a quarter of the state’s population.

County Department of Health Services, said the increased percentage of deaths is a result of hospitals being so crowded that only the sickest patients are being admitted.

Because hospitalized COVID-19 patients are now uniformly more severely ill, a greater percentage of them are dying.

And it is likely that a greater fraction of patients are being sent home with instructions to return to the hospital should their illness worsen,” Lewis said.

While state data show 7,073 coronavirus-positive patients were hospitalized countywide Wednesday — down more than 12% from the record high of 8,098 set Jan.

Here’s a rundown of how the makeup of COVID-19 patients hospitalized in the county has changed from September and October, when the pandemic was less overwhelming, to the surge period that began in November.

“This is still a very large number of COVID patients, and our hospitals are inundated with people suffering from serious health problems because of COVID-19,” she said during a briefing Wednesday.

The current death rate is “more than double that of pre-pandemic years, leading to hospitals, funeral homes and crematoriums exceeding capacity, without the ability to process the backlog,” the South Coast Air Quality Management District said Sunday.

County’s daily COVID-19 death toll was roughly 50, on average.

The current wave has been markedly worse, with the average daily death toll peaking at 241 deaths a day for the seven-day period that ended on Jan.

While the number of daily deaths has dipped, the rate is still significantly higher than at any time in the pandemic.

County reported 294 COVID-19 deaths, one of the highest single-day tallies of the entire pandemic.

The record number of deaths reported in a single day is 318, which was reported on both Jan.

Newsom promised 1 million COVID-19 vaccinations.

Gavin Newsom said 1 million additional doses of COVID-19 vaccine would be administered in California over the course of 10 days.

On Wednesday, the number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized statewide dropped to 19,537, the lowest level since Dec

California has averaged 485 daily deaths over the last week, an increase of 27% from two weeks ago, according to data compiled by The Times

Over the last 14 days, California has reported 17.7 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 residents, the 12th-highest rate among all states, Times data show

He acknowledged the slow pace at which the vaccines were distributed, with some people waiting up to five hours Wednesday, but he said that the average wait Thursday was 30 to 40 minutes