Culver City Observer -

With the pandemic worsening daily in Los Angeles County and California, Public Health officials are urging all residents to stay home to curb the spread the virus that has so far claimed more 8568 lives in the Southland, including 37 in Culver City.

In the past week, the County has recorded record numbers of Covid-19 deaths, cases and hospitalizations. New coronavirus cases have tripled while deaths rose by 600% in the past month, health officials said.

Yesterday, the state reported another 52,281 new cases of the virus -- just 1,400 cases less than what California saw the day prior -- and the deaths of 379 Californians, marking the highest number of fatalities in one day since the pandemic began.

As of press time, the number of Culver City residents with Covid-19 has shot up to 921 cases, a 75% increase in the past 25 days. Coronavirus-related deaths now total 37 locally, the County Health Department reported.

County-wide, the total infected with coronavirus stands at 566,005 with 8568 deaths. On Wednesday, Public Health reported 138 new deaths and 22,422 new cases of Covid-19, surpassing the previous high of 13,815 recorded on December 11.

"We have the most difficult road in front of us and the virus is rampant in our neighborhoods," said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. "Every hour, on average, two of our neighbors, family members and friends are dying from Covid-19. The most important way we get through these hard times is for everyone to stay home as much as possible and only go out for work, exercise or for essential services."

Dr. Ferrer continued: "Please cancel holiday plans that involve travel or gathering with friends and family that are not part of your household. Unless we remain more diligent through the holidays - and beyond – we will not be able to stop the surge and provide essential relief to our hospitals and healthcare workers."

Currently, there are 4,656 people hospitalized in LA County and 21% of them are in the ICU. Hospital available capacity is decreasing to alarming levels and healthcare workers are pushed to the limits, health official said.

State health officials said Thursday that the ICU capacity in the 11-county Southern California region has dropped to 0% amid a dramatic surge in coronavirus cases. California hospitals are required to report the total number of all available staffed ICU beds each day.

The County's daily test positivity rate has also increased dramatically, health officials reported. Over the past month, the test positivity rate has increased 3-fold, from around 3.5% to just over 10%. Yesterday's test positivity rate is 14.2%.

The rate of infection in Culver City stands at 2310 per 100,000 population. But it's still lower than the levels at some neighboring cities, including Beverly Hills at 3699, Inglewood at 5172 and the City of Los Angeles 5698.