Los Angeles County exceeded the 28,000 Covid-related mortality mark on Saturday, reporting 66 new deaths and 41,765 new positive cases. Today's death toll is the greatest the Department of Public Health has seen in a single day since April 2, 2021, with daily deaths more than doubling in the previous week alone.

The number of confirmed cases and deaths recorded today could be due to weekend reporting delays. However, today's report takes the County's total to 28,008 deaths and 2,213,664 positive cases to a total of 28,008 deaths and 2,213,664 positive cases. The Omicron variety, which has fueled the County's winter Covid outbreak, is responsible for the majority of the deaths reported today.

Covid-19 has hospitalized 4,386 County individuals as of this writing. It wasn't immediately known how many of them are in the intensive care unit.

“As deaths often lag behind surges in cases and hospitalizations, sadly, the increase in deaths does not come as a surprise and tragically, we are prepared for even higher number of deaths in the coming weeks,” said Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer. “With unvaccinated individuals 22 times more likely to die from COVID-19 compared to those fully vaccinated, residents should not delay getting vaccinated and boosted as these measures are saving lives.”

More than 10,580,000 people have now received their Covid test results, with 19% of them testing positive. The daily test positivity rate today is 17.9%.

Those in the County should also "reduce non-essential activity" in crowded settings, especially indoors, and replace their cotton masks with a N95, KN95, KF94, or surgical mark to increase their chances of preventing transmission.