Classes are canceled next week in the Culver City Unified School District due to the surge in COVID-19 cases.
In a message to parents, district officials cited the ongoing rapid spread of the Omicron variant in opting to cancel three days worth of classes. District classes were previously canceled Monday for the Martin Luther King holiday, and Tuesday was a pre-planned non-pupil day.
Classes will now be canceled Wednesday through Friday.
"This cancellation is in effect for all CCUSD programs, including the Office of Child Development, K-12 schools and Culver City Adult School,'' according to the district.
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The number of COVID-positive patients in Los Angeles County hospitals topped the 4,000 mark, according to the latest data released Thursday. According to state figures, there were 4,175 COVID-19-positive patients in county hospitals as of Thursday, with 586 of them being treated in intensive care. That's up from 3,912 total patients and 536 in the ICU on Wednesday.
The hospital number is the highest it has been since early February 2021.
County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said Thursday the rise in COVID patients is pushing the county's overall hospital patient population to levels rivaling those during last winter's case surge. She said the daily overall patient census -- both COVID and non-COVID -- is about 15,000 in the county, close to last winter's peak of 16,500.
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She also noted that rising hospitalizations are a natural consequence of rising case numbers, as are deaths, which are likely to keep increasing, even after infection figures begin declining.
"And while it's reassuring that much of the scientific evidence to date suggests that Omicron causes milder illness for many people, particularly those vaccinated and boosted, we still have no idea what percent of those recently infected with Omicron will experience long COVID, or the likelihood of children infected with Omicron developing MIS-C after their initial infection,'' Ferrer said, referring to the inflammatory syndrome that occurs in some children. "Given this uncertainty, it remains prudent to continue to take all the protections possible to minimize your exposure to this highly infectious variant."
On Thursday, the county reported 45 new COVID-related deaths, continuing a disturbing upward trend. A total of 39 deaths were reported Wednesday, the highest number since September. All of the deaths reported Wednesday occurred this month, likely reflecting an increase associated with the higher December case and hospitalization numbers.
The county also continued seeing disturbingly high numbers of new infections, with 45,076 new cases reported Thursday.
To date, the county has reported 27,895 COVID-related deaths and 2,131,523 cases since the pandemic began.
Thursday's rolling daily rate of people testing positive for the virus was 20.8%.
