LOS ANGELES — California has become the third state to surpass 25,000 coronavirus deaths since the start of the pandemic. Health officials also found three more cases involving a variant strain of the coronavirus first identified in the UK earlier this year.
The grim developments came as an ongoing surge swamps hospitals and pushes nurses and doctors to the breaking point as they brace for another likely increase after the holidays.
Los Angeles County has recorded about 40% of the state’s coronavirus deaths.
An average of six people die every hour from COVID-19 in that county. On Thursday, the Department of Public Health tweeted out snippets every 10 minutes on lives that have been lost.
“The hair stylist who worked for 20 years to finally open her own shop.”
“A grandmother who loved to sing to her grandchildren.”
“The bus driver who put her daughter through college and was beaming with pride.”
Hospitals are housing patients in hallways, conference rooms, a cafeteria and gift shops. Several facilities have erected mobile field hospitals in their parking lots to help with the overflow of patients.
Los Angeles County has allowed certain types of patients who arrive by ambulance to be offloaded into the waiting room instead of the emergency room because there is no room, according to the LA Times.
New York state has had 38,000 deaths from the coronavirus so far in the pandemic, and Texas has recorded over 27,000 deaths.