L.A. hospitals face rising admissions

Los Angeles County hospitals are once again seeing a marked increase in the number of coronavirus-positive patients requiring their care — triggering new concern that health care systems could once again come under strain unless the region gets its arms around the latest resurgence of the virus.

The case rate in the nation’s largest county is now high enough to land it within the “medium” community level outlined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Reaching this category, the middle on the agency’s three-tier scale, “is concerning, since it could signal that the increases that we’re seeing in our COVID cases could soon put pressure on our health care resources,” said county Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer.

L.A. County is one of 14 in California within the medium community level, and the first in Southern California. The majority of the others are in the San Francisco Bay Area.

So far, no California counties are in the worst, “high,” community level. Getting to that point would require not only an elevated level of coronavirus transmission, but for hospitals to begin seeing significant effects from COVID-19.

As of last week, the number of coronavirus-positive patients hospitalized countywide was 379. While still significantly lower than many other points in the pandemic, the census has jumped by 42% just in the last week.

Officials have long noted that the pandemic has plotted a predictable, if painful, path — with increases in new infections triggering corresponding rises in hospitalizations a few weeks later. Although cases have been climbing, hospitalizations have until just recently remained at some of the lowest levels ever recorded.