Los Angeles breaks record for COVID-19 deaths on the day before Christmas

GettyImages 1230201371 — Registered nurse Carmen Verano answers a phone call in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Providence Cedars-Sinai Tarzana Medical Center in Tarzana, California on December 18, 2020.
APU GOMES/AFP via Getty Images

Los Angeles County public health officials said Thursday that 148 people had died from COVID-19.
It is the second day in a row that the largest county in the US set a record for deaths from the novel coronavirus.
"A person now dies every 10 minutes in LA County from COVID-19," said Barbara Ferrer, the county's director of public health.
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Los Angeles County announced its worst day yet during the pandemic, a day before Christmas, with public health officials confirming 148 new deaths from COVID-19.

It's the second record-breaking day in a row.

The county, home to more than 10 million people, also saw more than 13,600 new cases on Thursday.

"A person now dies every 10 minutes in LA County from COVID-19," Barbara Ferrer, the county's director of public health, said in a statement. "I hope we can find the strength and courage to take responsibility for each other's well-being. Follow the public health directives. These are the only tools that will work right now."

While children have been spared the worst of the pandemic, LA County has now seen more than 50 cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome linked to COVID-19 in children, including one death.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, MIS-C is characterized by inflammation in multiple body parts, "including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs."

In total, just under 9,300 people are confirmed to have died from COVID-19 in LA County, with more than 677,000 testing positive for the coronavirus.

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