An additional three people have died from COVID-19 and more than 300 have tested positive in Long Beach as the pandemic surge continues, officials said Thursday.
The city also announced that three Long Beach jail staff members, whose shifts overlapped, have tested positive. Inmates have been transferred in order to disinfect the facility.
No inmates have so far tested positive, and health officials are working to identify any inmates that may have been exposed, officials said.
Overall, the city has seen 17,402 total cases and 282 deaths, while the city’s average seven-day case rate has climbed to 37.6 per 100,000 residents.
Los Angeles County broke its record for newly confirmed COVID-19 cases, while hospitalizations continued a steady upward climb. The county on Thursday reported 7,854 new cases, eclipsing its previous daily record of 7,593 set on Tuesday.
County health officials also announced 44 more deaths, increasing the overall death toll to 7,782, while the number of people hospitalized rose to 2,572.
The rising numbers come as Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a plan for tighter regional stay-at-home orders based on regional intensive care unit capacity.
Under the new orders, California regions will be required to shut down most nonessential activity for three weeks if their local ICU capacity drops below 15%—something the state projects could happen in Southern California within a matter of days.
County officials in a news conference Thursday didn’t immediately provide numbers on the Southern California region’s current ICU capacity, but in Long Beach ICU capacity in the area’s five hospitals was 64% as of Monday.
As of Wednesday, 154 patients were hospitalized with COVID-19 in five area hospitals, including Long Beach Memorial Hospital, St. Mary Medical Center, College Medical Center, Lakewood Regional Medical Center and Los Alamitos Medical Center.
Orange County, meanwhile, set a new record on Thursday for COVID-19 hospitalizations. The county saw 735 hospitalizations, up from the record of 733 on mid-July. Of those, 179 were in intensive care units.
– City News Service contributed to this report