Mayor Eric Garcetti warned that projections imply Los Angeles County could take another 3,000 deaths from the pandemic by the end of the month, comparing it to a “decade of homicides.”
“This is the greatest threat to life in Los Angeles that we have ever faced,” the mayor said at a briefing Friday.
“The threat of COVID-19 is real. It’s never been more dangerous, and the consequences are devastating,” he said, describing it as “mission-critical” to restrain the spread.
He called the “stark” increase in infections “record-setting in a bad way,” with the county listing more positive infections last week than the whole month of October.
WATCH: THE FASCINATING STORY OF BRIDGETTE GABRIEL
“Just a few weeks ago it would have been unimaginable, and we’re on the verge of 10,000 cases daily,” he cautioned, saying there will shortly be “more cases than we have hospital beds.”
“We are perilously close to running out of intensive care units or ICU beds,” he said, noting that other seriously sick patients would be competing for the same beds and unable to get care, adding to the deaths.
WATCH: JIMMY FALLON MOCKS UPCOMING PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE
LA County did surely pass 10,000 cases after the mayor’s grim prediction, with 10,528 new cases reported Sunday — and a record 2,988 patients hospitalized, the Los Angeles Times remarked.
NANCY PUTS IN HER REQUEST FOR SENTENCING OF "CRAZY HAMMER MAN" THAT ATTACKED HUSBAND
Though, Garcetti has been so focused on the coronavirus threat, that it seems like he forgot all about the surge in crime.
Amid a rash of weekend gun violence, Los Angeles last month reached a harsh benchmark not seen for over a decade now: 300 homicides.
In past decades, L.A. endured far more violence, with more than 1,000 homicides in some years in the 1980s and 1990s. The city, though, has not exceeded 300 killings since 2009.
FROM COAST TO COAST: DO YOU LIVE IN ONE OF AMERICA'S FASTEST-GROWING CITIES?
Now, with a wave of homicides occurring in other cities across the country, Los Angeles has seen a 25% rise in killings over last year, hitting the 300 mark with more than a month left in 2020. Gunfires are up more than 32%.
TULIPS AND HIGH HOPES: THE BIZARRE BOTANICAL MIX-UP AT WISCONSIN'S CAPITOL!
Official figures in the LAPD’s data-driven Compstat unit reached 299 homicides for the year just last month, though the latest violence will push the number even higher once final approvals are made, including with the Los Angeles County coroner’s office, said Capt. Stacy Spell, a department spokesman.
“The reality is there are 300,” Spell said. “It’s tragic.”
Discover alternative ideas that will make you think
Engage in mind bending debate
Earn points, rise in rank, have fun
