Los Angeles County reports record daily count of COVID-19 deaths, hospitalizations

LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles County, the most populous county in the United States, again reported the highest number of new COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations on Wednesday.

The county's Department of Public Health confirmed 16,525 new COVID-19 infections and 145 additional deaths in a daily release, pushing its cumulative cases up to 663,954, with 9,153 related deaths.

There are 6,155 patients with COVID-19 currently hospitalized across the county, with 20 percent in the intensive care unit, said the department.

Public health officials said that more than 38,800 frontline healthcare workers have been vaccinated at acute care hospitals as of Tuesday night.

"Tragically, we are on our way to witnessing 10,000 deaths from COVID-19 and our hospitals overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients. Every day, more than 14,000 additional people become intimately aware of the easy spread of this virus because they test positive for COVID-19," said Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer in the release.

"We are in the middle of a horrific surge and we all need to take the hard steps, the wise steps, to reduce transmissions and exposure now, during the holidays, and as we begin 2021," she noted, urging people to delay travel plans and gather only with members of their household in winter holidays.

"The sooner we all take these vitally important steps, the sooner we can stop the surge in cases that is overwhelming our hospital care system," she added.