Los Angeles County health officials on Thursday reported 5,087 new cases of COVID-19, and hospitalizations shot up by about 200 above what they had been earlier in the week.
The news comes on Thanksgiving, with health officials imploring residents to avoid large gatherings with those outside their households. They also urged people to shop online for Black Friday, typically the busiest shopping day of the year ahead of Christmas.
Nonessential retail stores must operate at 25% capacity, and county officials said inspectors will be out over the weekend to ensure compliance with health orders.
Thursday’s COVID-19 numbers mark another grim day of elevated case counts. The five-day average of daily cases is now 4,386, and the county has hit a 7.3% positivity rate among those who are tested.
On Sunday, county officials suspended all in-person dining at restaurants, which took effect Wednesday night at 10 p.m. Officials are also considering stricter measures if the cases continue to escalate.
The county also reported 1,809 people who are hospitalized, about a quarter of whom are in the intensive care unit. On Nov. 1, the average daily number of people hospitalized for COVID-19 was 791.
Earlier in the week, officials warned that those numbers could exceed 2,200 in a few weeks, and have the potential to overwhelm hospitals if case counts continue their upward trend.
The county reported another 37 people died of the virus, also a higher number than what officials had seen just two weeks ago. To date, 7,580 in Los Angeles County have died of coronavirus.
Both hospitalizations and deaths are considered “lagging indicators,” in that they begin to elevate weeks after higher case counts.