COVID-19 deaths in Los Angeles County topped 200 again today as the virus continued its fatal spread, and state officials announced plans to set up temporary morgue space at the county coroner's office to help store bodies.
Friday was the worst day yet for COVID-19 fatalities in California, as well as in Los Angeles County.
There were 676 deaths were reported in the state Friday, including 318 in Los Angeles County, according to a Times survey of health agencies. The figures easily top the previous single-day records: 575 deaths in California and 291 in L.A. County, both set on New Year’s Eve.
The records came on the one-year anniversary of L.A. County’s first health alert concerning the coronavirus.
What that alert called an “outbreak of pneumonia of unknown etiology in Wuhan City, China” has morphed in 12 months into the “most significant infectious disease” of the last century, said Dr. Paul Simon, chief science officer for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
LOS ANGELES Coronavirus infections in California reached 2.5 million Wednesday, another alarming milestone that underscores an unprecedented surge that has overwhelmed hospitals and is expected to worsen in the coming weeks.
According to The Times tracker, 1 of every 16 people in the state has tes