SoCal Alarm Bells Ring As Coronavirus Cases Spike, Holidays Near

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — Since Tuesday, 1,200 new coronavirus cases and three new deaths related to the illness have been reported in Riverside County.

Those figures are on top of a more than 10 percent jump in COVID-19 hospitalizations since Tuesday, according to data released Thursday by Riverside University Health System - Public Health.

RUHS did not release updated figures over Wednesday's Veterans Day holiday.

The total number of virus infections recorded in Riverside County since the public health documentation period began in early March now stands at 73,541 compared to 72,341 Tuesday, according to RUHS.

Officials reported the number of deaths related to COVID-19 at 1,355 Thursday, compared to 1,352 Tuesday.

The number of COVID-positive hospitalizations was at 271 Thursday, up 27 from Tuesday, including 67 intensive care unit patients, a drop of three since Tuesday.

Statewide, California surpassed 1 million coronavirus cases Thursday, and figures are spiking across the Southland.

On Tuesday, San Diego County rejoined Riverside in the most restrictive tier of the state's color-coded coronavirus framework — purple.

In Los Angeles County, which has never moved out of the purple tier, local health officials warned the county may be forced to impose more restrictions on public activity — more severe than those mandated by the state.

"If collectively we fail to stop the acceleration of new cases, we will have no choice but to look at additional actions," county public health director Barbara Ferrer said Thursday. "All around the country, elected officials and public health leaders are introducing new requirements to protect health care systems from becoming overwhelmed."

The admonition came on a day that LA County reported another 2,533 new cases of the coronavirus, lifting the cumulative total to 330,514.

LA County is seeing a more than 33 percent increase in daily cases, according to Ferrer, although deaths have yet to spike. The county is averaging 10 daily deaths, the "lowest since the early days of the pandemic," Ferrer said.

"Unfortunately," she continued, "the continued decrease in deaths is likely to not continue, since we know increases in cases and hospitalizations will actually influence the number of deaths we experience here in the county, and it is likely in the weeks to come that our numbers of deaths will increase as well," she said.

Indeed, hospitalizations are increasing in LA County, with 953 COVID-19 patients as of Thursday, marking two straight days over 900. The cumulative death toll in the county was 7,221 as of Thursday.

With nearly 300 more diagnoses of coronavirus reported in Orange County Thursday, there is growing concern about that county slipping down to the most restrictive, purple tier. It remains the only red-tier county south of Ventura.

On Thursday, Orange County reported six more COVID-19 fatalities, hiking the death toll to 1,520, and 295 more diagnoses of coronavirus, raising the cumulative caseload to 63,460.

Health officials and some local leaders around the region are very concerned that the upcoming holidays will present elevated risk of virus transmission, particularly if people hold indoor gatherings with family and friends from outside their immediate household.

Ferrer warned that testing negative for the virus ahead of a holiday gathering doesn't signal an all-clear.

"We hear from people who tell us that they are going to go to party this weekend and now they're all going to go get tested today so that they'll be able to go to the party," she said. "That strategy doesn't work. When you test today and you are negative, you're only negative today. Your actions ... really offer nobody around you any protections from the fact that you may have converted and become positive and are able to spread the virus."

"I'm not happy," Orange County CEO Frank Kim said of the hospitalization rate in his county, and the likelihood that it will go up as the holiday season approaches.

The number of OC hospitalizations related to the virus increased from 244 Wednesday to 251 Thursday, with the number of intensive care unit patients rising from 83 to 89, according to the Orange County Health Care Agency.

"That certainly rings the bell. I'm concerned. You can't ignore that trend," Kim said. "The biggest worry we have is not even in the recent rise — that's a concern — but it's about Thanksgiving and Christmas."

—City News Service contributed to this report.