Culver City Observer -

Culver City and L.A. County continue to experience a surge in Covid-19 cases and deaths than at any point during the pandemic, health officials have announced.

The number of Culver City residents with Covid-19 has shot up to 786 cases, a 50% increase in the past 19 days, as of press time yesterday. Coronavirus-related deaths also rose by 8 over the same period – a 35% increase – and now total 38 in Culver City, the County Health Department reported.

County-wide, the total infected with coronavirus stands at 487,917 with 8,149 deaths. On Thursday, Public Health reported 74 new deaths and 12,819 new cases of Covid-19, surpassing the previous high of 10,528 recorded on December 6. In the past 13 days, coronavirus cases have increased from about 4,900 to more than 9,000 daily.

Health officials also confirmed the first Covid-19 death of child, under the age of 18, in LA County. The child was hospitalized for multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) and had severe underlying health conditions. MIS-C is the inflammatory condition associated with Covid-19 that can damage multiple organ systems, require hospitalization, and be life-threatening.

To date, Public Health has confirmed 45 children with MIS-C in L.A. County. All were hospitalized and 50% of the children were treated in the ICU.

The surge, which began a month ago, has also led to an increase in hospitalizations and, tragically, a spike in deaths. Since November 9, daily deaths have increased 258%, from 12 deaths per day to 43 this week, health officials said. There are 3,433 people with coronavirus currently hospitalized in LA County and 23% of these people are in the ICU. The number of hospitalizations has increased by 400% in the past six weeks.

"This is a most dangerous time for L.A. County, and I ask everyone to please be extremely careful and diligent in protecting yourself and other people," said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. "When there are tens of thousands of infected people out and about each day, there is a significant increase in the probability that among the many encounters each individual has during the day, one or more of these will be with a person infected with the virus. The safest thing you can do during this very difficult time in the pandemic is to stay home as much as possible and to interact only with members of your household. "

The County's daily test positivity rate has also increased significantly, health officials reported. From early November through November 29, the test positivity rate has increased 3-fold from around 3.5% to just over 9%. Today's test positivity rate is 12.5%.

The rate of infection in Culver City stands at 1906 per 100,000 population. But it's still lower than the levels at some neighboring cities, including Beverly Hills at 3300, Inglewood at 4309 and the City of Los Angeles 4778.

Since its regional ICU bed capacity is currently 9%, the Southern California region, which includes L.A. County, is under the State Stay at Home Order. As a reminder, the following businesses are closed: cardrooms, wineries, breweries, distilleries, museums, zoos, aquariums, personal care including hair salons, barbershops, nail salons and family entertainment centers.

The following activities are permitted with safety modifications including required mask wearing and distancing: grocery stores (at 35% occupancy); retail stores and shopping centers (at 20% occupancy), restaurants for take-out and delivery only, parks and trails, outdoor gyms, libraries (at 20% occupancy), playgrounds, schools and childcare.

As the pandemic continues in this holiday season, many people are experiencing a great deal of stress and difficulty. County Health Department says help is available to all the residents who are feeling overwhelmed in these trying times.

The Department said its Mental Health's Help Line operates 24 hours a day 7 days a week and can provide residents with referrals for mental health and wellness services. Also, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, you can access the Emotional Support Warm Line with Trained Active Listeners to talk to. The phone number to access all these services is (800) 854-7771.