Los Angeles County saw Tuesday the biggest jump in a single day in coronavirus deaths at 40, raising the number of deaths to 360 and raising the case count to 10,047.
"This is tragically, the largest number of deaths I have had to report in a single day," said the Dr. Barbara Ferrer, county public health director. "I know this represents lives that have been lived with close family and friends who are now mourning this terrible loss."
During the past 48 hours, 909 new cases of COVID-19 were reported, Ferrer said.
# COVID19 Update (4/14/20):@lapublichealth reports 670 new cases and 40 deaths.
Total cases in LA County = 10,047
Total deaths = 360
Locations of confirmed cases can also be found at https://t.co/Oe4YmMwm8V
(Thread 1/3) pic.twitter.com/Tddg5u87xr– Los Angeles County (@CountyofLA) April 14, 2020
The increase in deaths comes just a day after the county reported the lowest daily count of new cases in more than two weeks, but Ferrer noted that because testing is limited over the weekend, cases are likely to continue to increase.
The death rate in the county also continued to rise and is now at 3.6%, Ferrer said.
THE. County officials deliver COVID-19 updates (April 14, 2020) https://t.co/gGIYVdobMz
– Los Angeles County (@CountyofLA) April 14, 2020
The county has Race and ethnicity information for 292 people who have died: Of these, 16% were African American, 17% were Asian, 34% were Latino, 32% were white, and 2% identified as others.
More than 63,000 people have been tested across the county, 11% of whom have been positive.
Of these, 2,517 people were hospitalized at some point, that is, 25% of all positive cases. Currently more than 1,400 people are hospitalized, of which 33% are in intensive care and 20% with ventilators.
Ferrer noted that testing capacity continues to increase across the county, and that the total number of people tested increased by 10,000 on Monday.
The county is investigating 199 institutional settings with at least one confirmed case of COVID-19; 13 were added to that list on Monday, Ferrer said.
There have been a total of 1,596 positive cases among people in these facilities, most of them residents. In all, 109 residents have died after living in an institutional setting, including in qualified nursing homes and assisted living facilities, and they account for 31% of all deaths in the county, Ferrer said.
"We continue to see an alarming increase in the number of cases among residents and staff in our institutional settings," said the director.
