LOS ANGELES — The number of COVID-19 deaths reported weekly in Los Angeles County has hit the highest point of the season, underscoring the continued deadly risks of a disease that has ripped through the community for nearly three years.
L.A. County recorded 164 COVID-19 deaths for the seven-day period that ended Wednesday, a new high that exceeds the summer peak of 122 deaths for the week that ended Aug. 6. That tally was the worst in 10 months. The rolling weekly death tally declined slightly for the week that ended Thursday, to 163.
“Deaths are high, and it’s really upsetting,” L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said Thursday. Nationally, many more people are still dying from COVID-19 — about 36,000 since early October — than the flu — estimated to be about 14,000 over the same period.
