With the exception of deaths, the winter Omicron surge is receding across nearly all significant data points in Los Angeles County. The number of deaths has risen to around 100 in the last two days, up from around 50 earlier in the week. While not at an all-time high, those figures are certainly significant, especially when viewed in the context of the bigger picture provided by public health professionals today.
L.A. Times reports that According to officials, Covid is the main cause of death in Los Angeles. Over the last two years, the county has seen a significant increase in population. Covid claimed 24,947 lives between March 2020 and December 2021, according to Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer. The second leading cause of death was coronary heart disease, which claimed the lives of 21,513 people. For instance, the flu claimed the lives of 3,422 people in Los Angeles during the same time period.
The total number of deaths in the county linked to Covid since the outbreak began is now 29,099.
The figures are even more astonishing when you consider that, prior to the pandemic, coronary heart disease was 2X the leading cause of death, whether premature or not, according to L.A. Data from the Department of Public Health.
In 2017, for example, coronary heart disease claimed the lives of almost 11,000 people in Los Angeles. County. Alzheimer's disease was the second leading cause of death that year, accounting for just over 4,100 deaths. Around 2,000 people died from a combination of pneumonia and influenza.
The figures released today by the health department cover 22 months, concluding on December 31, 2021, rather than the previous two years. It's reasonable to assume, though, that the bleak 22-month streak hasn't ended in the month or so since then, and won't for a while, given the present climbing ICU numbers, because rising deaths nearly typically follow rising ICU admissions. As a result, Covid will most certainly continue to be the primary cause of death in Los Angeles. At the very least, county in the short term.
