Dec. 6 (UPI) — Los Angeles County continues to see an uptick in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths.
Last week, Los Angeles County’s community designation rose to medium from low due to a spike in cases, leading officials to warn that an indoor mask mandate could be adopted if the county trend continues.
The county’s public health agency is reporting a daily case average of 3,721 a day for the seven-day period ending Monday. The figures from the previous week showed an average of 2,128 cases per day.
L.A. County reported 1,211 COVID-19 hospitalizations for the week ending Saturday.
As of Saturday the number of hospital beds being used by COVID-19 patients rose to 6.4% from 4.8% the previous week.
The data mean there are now 12.1 COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 people. A figure of 10 or more hospitalizations per 100,000 people is one of two benchmarks that could trigger an indoor mask mandate, officials said.
If the hospital bed figure reaches 10% it will likely set a new mask mandate into motion, they said.
Additionally, L.A. County reported 76 COVID-19 deaths for the week ending Monday, up from 53 deaths during the previous week.
During a press conference last Thursday, Los Angeles County Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer warned that “while there is still uncertainty about what the impact of COVID-19 will be this winter, there is mounting evidence that we are entering another COVID-19 surge.”
Separately, officials announced Friday, that the community designation for Orange County, Calif., had changed from low to medium.
