Coronavirus cases in Los Angeles County rose dramatically Wednesday as officials reported more than 500 new cases, bringing the total number of people infected by the virus in the region to 3,518.
County officials also reported 11 new deaths from the virus, bringing the toll to 65.
“Every day reporting these numbers is devastating,” said Barbara Ferrer, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. “I know it’s more devastating for the family and friends who have experienced this tremendous loss.”
Coronavirus cases statewide topped 8,700 as the death count neared 200 and officials grapple with a shortage of supplies while rushing to prepare hospitals for what is expected to be a deluge of patients in the coming weeks.
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The number of intensive care patients in the state tripled — from 200 to 597 — in less than a week and the number of hospitalizations nearly doubled, from 746 to 1,432, officials said this week.
State officials are working on adding more hospital and intensive care unit beds to handle the surge in coronavirus patients. There is concern that without action, the state could be short tens of thousands of hospital beds needed on the epidemic’s worst day.
A Los Angeles Times data analysis found that California has 7,200 ICU beds across more than 365 hospitals. In total, the state has more than 70,000 beds, with roughly one ICU bed for every 5,500 people in California.
About half of California’s total ICU beds — 3,700 — are in the five-county area around L.A. County, according to data from 2018, the most recent available. In the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area, there are roughly 1,400 ICU beds for a population of 7.6 million.
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Amid a rising number of infections, community clinics and health centers on the front lines continue to face a shortage of test kits and medical equipment they need to protect staff against the virus. Since the outbreak of the coronavirus, community clinics and health centers in Los Angeles County have helped mitigate the spread of the virus and prevented sick patients from overwhelming hospitals.
At St. John’s Well Child and Family Center, a nonprofit that operates 18 health centers and school-based clinics in Los Angeles and Compton, the situation has become so dire that patients have offered to sew surgical masks for the staff.
In a news teleconference Tuesday, St. John’s Chief Executive Jim Mangia said it wouldn’t be enough and called on the federal government to mandate the production of protective gear and masks for healthcare workers.
Community clinics that typically handle primary care, including checkups and prescribing patients insulin for diabetes or medicine for their high blood pressure, have been canceling their regular appointments and seeing more patients with symptoms that match those of COVID-19.
Mangia said last week that the nonprofit saw 879 patients who were required to be placed in triage tents to isolate them from other patients. He said 39 tests were performed and seven were positive for COVID-19. He said at least three patients have been hospitalized.
“By the end of this week, we will have run out of protective gear,” Mangia said. “We still don’t have the tests that we need in order to contain the spread and isolate our patients.
“We’re essentially doing makeshift front-line work,” he added.
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Some experts say this is the beginning of what could become a worsening crisis. Many have cautioned against loosening stay-at-home and social distancing policies that have been put in place to limit people’s movements in an effort to stem the virus’ spread.
State officials announced Wednesday that California’s public K-12 campuses are expected to remain closed for the remainder of the academic year in response to the escalating coronavirus pandemic as educators take on the massive challenge of distance learning for about 6.1 million students.
Families and educators should operate “with the expectation now that schools will not reopen, but classes are in” for the rest of the school year, Gov. Gavin Newsom said.
“To all of the moms, all the teachers, all the caregivers, I know how stressful this is, trust me,” Newsom said. “I know what we’re asking of you over the course of the next few months.”
California faces a peak of 5,000 coronavirus deaths a week if the state’s stay-at-home policies are relaxed too early, Dr. Chris Farnitano, a health officer for Contra Costa County, told his Board of Supervisors this week. That would mean 600 deaths a week from COVID-19 in the central San Francisco Bay Area, and 100 to 200 deaths a week in Contra Costa County, he said.
“We are still hopeful we can avoid [this scenario] if we don’t relax our efforts to flatten the curve,” said Farnitano, who shared the possible epidemic outcomes on the same day that six Bay Area counties extended and strengthened the nation’s first coronavirus shelter-in-place order.
Sacramento County had 300 confirmed cases of the virus and eight deaths as of Tuesday evening, according to health officials. In the surrounding counties of Placer, Yolo and El Dorado, there have been more than 100 confirmed cases. Two people have died in Placer County, and one person has died in Yolo County.
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In Southern California, the number of confirmed cases of the virus also continues to surge.
Orange County saw its biggest single-day increase in coronavirus infections to date Wednesday, as officials announced 107 new cases and three additional deaths. In all, 606 COVID-19 cases and 10 deaths have been confirmed countywide.
Cases of the virus in Riverside County jumped to 371, prompting county health officials to recommend that residents cover their noses and mouths when out in public. Thirteen people have died countywide after being infected by the virus, according to health officials.
Officials said the recommendation is based on new knowledge about the coronavirus.
“When the situation changes, the rule book changes,” Dr. Cameron Kaiser, Riverside County’s public health officer, said in a statement.
“We’re seeing our numbers increasing even sooner than we predicted and that means our strategy must change too. Covering your face doesn’t change the orders everyone must abide by to stay home as much as possible and maintain social distancing, but it’s an extra layer of protection that I think we need to add.”
Times staff writers Luke Money, Sonali Kohli, Howard Blume and Kailyn Brown contributed to this report.
