by Steven Felschundneff | steven@claremont-courier.com

On Wednesday the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health reported the highest number of new cases in a single day since late August and a slight uptick in hospitalizations.

With 1,843 new cases across all areas of Los Angeles County, this number is as high as some of the daily case reports last month which resulted from data backloads at reporting agencies.

The increase in new cases is particularly disappointing to public health officials because the case rate is the biggest obstacle keeping the county in the most restrictive tier in the state’s Blueprint to a Safer Economy.

There are 817 people currently hospitalized, 29 of whom are in ICU. This is the first time since late September that daily hospitalizations have been over 800. While this is still significantly lower than the peak of over 2,200 daily hospitalizations in mid-July, the increase is most likely associated with the continued increase in cases over the past two weeks.

“Public Health will continue to monitor the number of people hospitalized closely because it represents how many people are currently seriously ill from the virus and the potential demand put on our hospitals to care for COVID-19 patients,” public health said.

Public Health, along with the Los Angeles County Office of Education, will host its virtual Los Angeles County Parent Town Hall Event on COVID-19 and Schools meeting on Monday, November 9, from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. The discussion will include steps taken to protect children returning back to school, the reopening process, school waivers, and a live Q&A with parents.

Claremont saw another jump in new infections over the past week with health officials reporting 20 new COVID-19 cases across all areas in the city. To date, Claremont has had 506 cumulative cases and 14 deaths. There are no new institutional outbreaks, however, Claremont Place is reporting one new resident testing positive, bringing its total cases to two staff members and seven residents.

Since the beginning of the pandemic public health has reported 313,562 cumulative cases and 7,117 deaths.