LA County reports 18 new COVID-19 deaths

Los Angeles County reported 18 new COVID-19 deaths on Thursday, Feb. 23, while the number of virus-positive hospital patients rose past 700 again.

The 18 new fatalities gave the county an overall death toll from the pandemic of 35,631.

The majority of people who die with COVID-19 are elderly or have an underlying health condition such as diabetes, heart disease or hypertension.

According to state figures, there were 726 COVID-positive patients in Los Angeles County hospitals as of Thursday, up from 698 a day earlier. Of those patients, 71 were being treated in intensive care, down from 84 on Wednesday.

Some of the patients were hospitalized for other reasons and learned they had COVID upon admission.

Meanwhile, the county reported 1,753 new COVID infections Thursday, lifting the cumulative total from throughout the pandemic to 3,700,188.

The daily case numbers released by the county are undercounts of actual virus activity in the county, due to people who use at-home tests and don’t report the results, and others who don’t test at all.

The seven-day average daily rate of people testing positive for the virus was 7% as of Thursday, roughly the same as the past week.