Coronavirus pandemic Updated Published December 22, 2020 4:58 PM A check in station for the COVID-19 vaccine at the Martin Luther King Jr Community Hospital. (Chava Sanchez/LAist) Los Angeles County reported 88 new coronavirus deaths today, pushing the death toll since the start of the pandemic past 9,000. Health officials also announced nearly 13,000 new cases of COVID-19. Hospitalizations continue to be a major concern. L.A. County currently has more than 5,800 people with COVID-19 in the hospital. One in five of those patients is in the ICU. The new numbers were released as health officials and frontline health care workers continue to plead with the public to stay home and not socialize outside of their own households. Concern is high that the upcoming Christmas and New Year holidays may create yet another surge.