洛杉矶县卫生局局长芭芭拉·费雷尔（Barbara Ferrer）博士周三宣布，洛杉矶县在24小时内再造成274例死亡，达到了“可怕的里程碑”，造成了1056人死亡。
费雷尔说，在过去14天中，COVID-19的每日死亡人数平均约为150人，或“大约等于其他所有原因造成的死亡人数，约170人”。“最令人伤心的是，如果我们在减少病毒传播方面做得更好，那么许多死亡就不会发生。”
该县已造成该州40％的病毒死亡，是南加州和农业圣华金河谷地区近二十个州中的一个，尽管重症监护病房（ICU）患者被安置在该州，但医院的重症监护病房在技术上已空余其他在“急诊”程序下的医院区域。
同时，加利福尼亚成为继科罗拉多州之后报告发现新病毒株的第二个州，该病毒首次在英国得到证实。
这位官员说，这名患者于12月27日出现症状，是一名30岁的圣地亚哥县男子，没有任何旅行史，这可能表明有人已经将这种新菌株带入了该州。 。
当病毒繁殖并在种群中移动时，通常会发生细微变化。科学家没有发现任何证据表明该变种具有更大的致死性或导致更严重的疾病，他们相信现在正在分发的疫苗将对这种变种有效。但是担心的是，突变在某个时候会变得足够重要，足以击败疫苗。
而且，传播速度较快的病毒可能淹没重病患者的医院。
根据洛杉矶县的数据，在洛杉矶县，四分之一的送往医院的COVID-19患者正在重症监护病房中结束。费雷尔说，为最严重的疾病找地方的努力意味着“不仅病毒被证明是致命的，而且还因为安格列诺斯死了的噩梦，因为他们无法从不堪重负的重症监护病房得到适当的照顾。”
这些案件引发了许多关于英国发行的版本如何到达美国以及现在是否为时已晚的问题，顶级专家表示，它可能已经在美国其他地区传播了。
公共健康官员也开始逗留，上门订货，旨在通过让人们从他们的家庭的外面采风，以减少COVID-19蔓延严格执法的警告。洛杉矶市长埃里克·加塞蒂（Eric Garcetti）说，由于感染的滞后时间，与圣诞节聚会相关的住院和死亡可能会在两到三周内出现，任何除夕聚会都可能在1月下旬因第三次病毒激增而淹没医院。
Garcetti说：“如果您与家庭以外的人混在一起，很可能在几周之内将无法获得医疗服务。” “我们将在家中，ICU病房和停尸房中感受到它。”
加塞蒂说，警察将加强公共卫生规则，禁止大型聚会，并且该市于周二在好莱坞山的“老派聚会所”断开了公用事业。
在星期三检测到新的COVID-19变种几小时后，圣地亚哥市长Todd Gloria签署了一项行政命令，指示要严格执行州和地方公共卫生法规。
格洛里亚（Gloria）说，他已要求警察和城市检察官对“公然和过分”违反卫生命令的人处以“罚款以及可能的其他执法行动”。
格洛里亚（Gloria）赞扬那些遵守规定，尽可能多地呆在家里并在户外时戴口罩的居民。
“许多人为了更大的利益而牺牲了自己的社交生活。当他们的邻居死亡时，其他人则以令人作呕的冷漠态度对待它，”他说。
High LA virus deaths, more contagious variant hit California
Los Angeles County reached a “terrible milestone” with 274 additional deaths in 24 hours for a record toll of 10,056 deaths, Los Angeles County Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer announced Wednesday.
The COVID-19 daily death toll over 14 days has averaged about 150 people, or “about equal to the number of deaths from all other causes, which is about 170,” said Ferrer. “Most heartbreaking is that if we had done a better job reducing transmission of the virus, many of these deaths would not have happened.”
The county, which has had about 40% of the state's virus deaths, is one of nearly two dozen in Southern California and the agricultural San Joaquin Valley area where hospital intensive care units have technically run out of room, although ICU patients are being placed in other hospital areas under “surge" procedures.
Meanwhile, California became the second state after Colorado to report finding a new strain of the virus that was first confirmed in the United Kingdom.
The patient, who developed symptoms on Dec. 27, is a 30-year-old San Diego County man who didn't have any history of travel, which could indicate that someone else already had brought the new strain into the state, officials said.
It is common for viruses to undergo minor changes as they reproduce and move through a population. Scientists have found no evidence that the variant is more lethal or causes more severe illness, and they believe the vaccines now being dispensed will be effective against it. But the fear is that mutations at some point will become significant enough to defeat the vaccines.
Also, a faster-spreading virus could swamp hospitals with seriously ill patients.
In L.A. County, more than 1 in 4 COVID-19 patients sent to hospitals are winding up in ICUs, according to county figures. The struggle to find places for the most seriously ill means “it’s not just the virus that’s proving fatal, but also the nightmare scenario of Angelenos dying because they cannot get the appropriate care from overwhelmed ICUs,” Ferrer said.
The cases triggered a host of questions about how the version circulating in England arrived in the U.S. and whether it is too late to stop it now, with top experts saying it is probably already spreading elsewhere in the United States.
Public health officials also began warning of stricter enforcement of stay-home orders that aim to reduce COVID-19 spread by keeping people from mingling outside of their households. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said hospitalizations and deaths linked to Christmas gatherings may show up in two or three weeks because of the infection's lag time, and any New Year’s Eve gatherings could start to overwhelm hospitals later in January in a third virus surge.
“If you mix and mingle with people outside your household, it’s likely medical care will not be available when it’s needed in a few weeks,” Garcetti said. “We will feel it in our homes, in our ICU units, and in our morgues.”
Garcetti said police will be out enforcing public health rules that prohibit large gatherings and the city had disconnected utilities on Tuesday at a “chronic party house” in the Hollywood Hills.
Hours after the new COVID-19 variant was detected Wednesday, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria signed an executive order directing stricter enforcement of state and local public health rules.
Gloria said he had asked police and the city attorney to pursue fines “and potentially other enforcement actions” against those who are “blatantly and egregiously” defying health orders.
Gloria praised residents who follow the rules, stay home as much as possible and wear masks when outside.
“Many have sacrificed their social lives for the greater good. Others have treated this with a sickening level of apathy as their neighbors died,” he said.
