By Alicia Victoria Lozano - NBC News
Los Angeles became the first county in the country on Saturday to register
one million cases of coronavirus
since the start of the pandemic.
Health authorities also confirmed
at least one case of the new COVID-19 variant
first detected in the UK, in a man who spent time in Los Angeles and is now quarantined in Oregon.
Health officials, who believe the variant is already spreading in the community, continue to test samples.
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"The presence of the British variant in Los Angeles County is concerning, as our healthcare system is already under great pressure with more than 7,500 people currently hospitalized," said Dr. Barbara Ferrer, director of Los Angeles County Public Health.
"Our community is bearing the brunt of the increase in winter cases, with large numbers of cases, hospitalizations and deaths,
five times what we experienced during the summer,
" he added.
Mass vaccination against COVID-19 for healthcare workers, at Dodger Stadium, on Friday, January 15, 2021, in Los Angeles, California.
Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times via AP
Los Angeles reported
1,003,923 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 13,741 deaths on Saturday.
Health authorities warned earlier this week that the actual number of coronavirus cases could be much higher: Up
to one in three residents have been infected
since the pandemic began a year ago.
The state of
California
is also reporting staggering numbers:
more than 2.9 million
confirmed
cases
, according to counts from NBC News, Telemundo's sister network.
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Texas, with 2 million cases, and Florida, with 1.5 million, are the next most infected states.
New York, which was one of the first and largest hot spots in the country, has recorded 1.2 million cases to date.
Officials will consider
tightening restrictions
on businesses, schools and even youth leagues if the current winter wave continues to mount, Ferrer said this week.
"The work ahead of us requires that we take all necessary measures to reduce transmission," he warned.
Members of the National Guard load the bodies of people killed by COVID-19 and place them in a temporary storage facility at the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's Office on January 12, 2021. County Medical Examiner Department from Los Angeles via AP
Public health officials are especially concerned that
the most contagious variant of the coronavirus could become the dominant strain by March
, according to a report released Friday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
This strain has already been detected in neighboring San Bernardino and San Diego counties.
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According to current evidence,
this variant does not make people sicker
.
But
its spread, which is more rapid
, will lead to more cases overall, the study authors wrote, "exacerbating the burden on an already strained health system, and resulting in more deaths."
The current wave of COVID-19 began in early November, shortly after restrictions on business and in-person meetings were relaxed, according to Los Angeles County public health officials.
Since then,
rates have increased by 1,000%
and
have disproportionately affected Latinos,
who make up about half of the total population.
Experts have identified
high density and multi-generational coexistence
in Los Angeles' hardest-hit neighborhoods
as risk factors
, as well as a large essential workforce that must report to work in person rather than stay home.
Dr. Richard Dang (right) administers the COVID-19 vaccine to Ashley Van Dyke at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California, USA, on January 15, 2021 Irfan Khan via REUTERS
High rates of COVID-19 are compounded by a
slow rollout of vaccines
in a county of 10 million residents.
As of Thursday, about
279,000 doses
had been administered to
healthcare workers
, residents and skilled nursing
facility
staff, according to health officials.
But the county must vaccinate an additional 450,000 healthcare workers before other groups, including people 65 and older, can receive their vaccinations.
"We are very hopeful that our dose distribution will increase enough so that we can start vaccinating older people before the end of the month," Ferrer said in a statement.
"As the supply of vaccines improves,
more residents will be eligible to receive them
. It will take several months to reach the level of vaccination necessary in the population to stop the continued transmission of the virus," he added.