Los Angeles County today reported 131 new COVID-19 deaths, the highest single day total since the pandemic began in March, bringing the total number of deaths to 8,568 countywide.

“Every hour, on average, two of our neighbors, family members and friends are dying from COVID-19,” said Barbara Ferrer, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, during a press conference Wednesday.

The county also reported a record 21,411 new cases today, including a backlog of 7,000 cases from a lab that has not reported for several days. The county has reported a total of 539,097 cases since the pandemic began.

As of Wednesday, 4,456 patients are hospitalized with COVID-19, including 21% in the ICU and 15% on ventilators.

Health officials have been predicting for weeks that deaths would begin to rise as cases and hospitalizations mounted at an unprecedented rate, and that appears to be coming to fruition.

“Because we continue to see more cases and hospitalizations, increases in daily deaths will stay on this tragic and troubling course for some time,” Ferrer said. “Their deaths are an inconceivable loss to our entire community.”

Long Beach, which has its own health department, reported its highest ever daily death toll yesterday with seven fatalities from COVID-19. Those seven deaths were not included in the 131 LA County reported today.

By far the hardest hit community by the pandemic has been Latinos, as well as those who live in low-income areas. The difference among these groups and others has only grown with the massive surge in cases, hospitalizations and deaths over the past few weeks, officials said.

The case rate among the Latino community is now 650 cases per 100,000 residents, which is two times that of Black residents, and three times that of White and Asian residents.

The hospitalization rate for Latinos is 55 per 100,000 residents, a 358% increase since early November, Ferrer said. That rate is three times higher than White residents, which is 17 per 100,000 residents.

Over the past four weeks, the death rate among Latino residents has grown from 1.4 daily deaths per 100,000 residents to 4.5 daily deaths, which is twice that of White residents.

Communities with the fewest resources are being hit the hardest. Since Dec. 7, the rate of cases per 100,000 for low-income communities was 1,000; for those in higher income areas, the rate was 457.

“Everyone is seeing increases, but unfortunately the gap keeps widening for these groups,” Ferrer said.

Brandon Richardson is a reporter and photojournalist for the Long Beach Post and Long Beach Business Journal.

Melissa Evans is the Chief Executive Officer of the Long Beach Post and Long Beach Business Journal. Reach her at [email protected], @melissaevansLBP or 562-512-6354.