Los Angeles County Coronavirus: 55 Dead, Highest Death Toll Yet

LOS ANGELES COUNTY, CA — Thursday Los Angeles County reported the highest one-day coronavirus death toll yet, with 55 dead in just 24 hours. Now a total of 455 people have died of the new coronavirus across Los Angeles County, double the death toll from just one week ago.

10,854 cases of the virus have been confirmed county-wide. More than 70,000 people have been tested for the coronavirus, meaning about 11 percent of tests come back positive.

The recent jump in deaths has more than doubled the county's mortality rate for the virus. In April, 1.8 percent of local patients with the coronavirus died. Now 4.2 percent, about one in 25, die from the disease. 26 percent of patients who have caught the disease have had to be hospitalized for treatment.

Of patients who have died, 88 percent were already suffering from underlying health conditions. Doctors say respiratory problems or other health issues can greatly complicate treatment. Age is also a factor: the disease is at its deadliest for patients over 80. More than a third of the deaths in Los Angeles County have been residents of nursing homes or assisted living facilities.

The county is trying to address how the virus disproportionately affects minority communities.

"We are working with our community partners to respond to the disproportionate number of deaths among African-Americans," said Barbara Ferrer, director of the county Department of Public Health. "This includes addressing issues related to access to testing, health services and accurate information about COVID-19."

Doctors have only identified the races of 390 out of the 455 deaths. In those 390 deaths, 33 percent were Latinx, 31 percent where white, 17 percent were Asian an 16% were black. The remaining 3 percent were other ethnicities.

Public health officials are also concerned about health care workers catching the virus from their patients. As of Monday, there have been 787 cases of the coronavirus confirmed in local health care workers. Three of those cases have been fatal.

One group is getting guaranteed new protections from the state: food chain workers. As KTLA reports, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday that farmers, fast-food workers, and anyone else involved in the production and distribution of food will be given two weeks of supplemental paid sick leave. Newsom says he hopes this will make it easier for those workers to call out sick, an avoid spreading the virus to their peers.

While the county tries to handle these issues, it remains unclear when a path to normalcy could arise. This week Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti an Gov. Newsom both discussed the possibility of beginning to reopen some businesses, but have said it's too early now to make that decision.

One thing is clear: when the stay-at-home order is eventually lifted, things will not just go back to normal. Dr. Ferrer says even when many go back to work, they'll still have to use precautions to protect against the virus:

"Our goal is to get people back to work by gradually relaxing restrictions in a measured and disciplined way to avoid experiencing a resurgence of cases that overwhelms our healthcare system and threatens our collective wellbeing. Many routines will still be different, and practicing physical distancing, wearing face coverings, and keeping our hands clean will be very important until we have a vaccine."

Currently, the stay-at-home order remains in place through at least May 15.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Charles Woodman contributed to this report.