Los Angeles County reported 34,448 new positive COVID-19 tests and 16 additional deaths associated with the virus today, amid an accelerated surge in transmission driven by the omicron variant.
The county has seen more than 200,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases over the past seven days, the highest number in one week since the beginning of the pandemic.
“As the surge continues, we ask residents and businesses to continue following the public health safety measures that we know reduce spread and keep people safe,” county Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said Saturday. “This includes wearing a medical grade mask that is more protective against the omicron variant and not spending time around others who are unmasked. These upgraded masks can be a surgical mask or an N95 or KN95 respirator mask.”
Long Beach has not reported any new cases on the city database since Thursday, Jan. 6. Still, Long Beach and Los Angeles County again set records for new cases of COVID-19 on Friday, with one in four people in Long Beach now testing positive for the virus.
The city reported 1,720 new cases, with a positivity rate of about 24.6%—up from 3% just two weeks ago. The city has reported 6,274 cases this week alone, compared to 8,309 throughout all of December.
New daily cases rose to over 204 per 100,000 residents, shattering the previous record of 170 set Thursday.
Prior to the current surge, the highest positivity rate and daily cases in Long Beach were 17.8% and 141.6, respectively, both set in January 2021. The positivity rate fell below 1% and the daily cases to a low of one by June of last year.
Officials are urging residents to reconsider attending high-risk activities, including indoor activities where individuals are unmasked for long periods of time, and crowded outdoor events.
The county’s rolling average daily rate of people testing positive for the virus was 20.4% as of Saturday. Overall, more than 10,269,000 individuals have been tested, with 17% of people testing positive to date, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
Meanwhile, the number of COVID-positive patients in county hospitals surged by nearly 300 people in one day, rising to an even 3,200, according to the latest state figures.
The number of those patients in intensive care was 411, up from 391 on Friday and 352 on Thursday.
Many of those patients entered the hospital for another reason and only discovered they had the coronavirus after a mandated COVID test, according to local officials.
The county set a single-day record for COVID-19 infections on Friday, reporting 43,712 new cases.
Saturday’s data brought the county’s cumulative totals to 1,921,890 cases and 27,772 fatalities since the pandemic began.
Reporter Brandon Richardson contributed to this story.