COVID-19 Deaths in Los Angeles Are So High Officials Have Temporarily Suspended Air-Quality Regulations that Limit Cremations
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COVID-19 deaths in Los Angeles are so high officials have temporarily suspended air-quality regulations that limit cremations.
The Los Angeles Times reports, “In L.A. County, officials reported 108 deaths and 11,366 new positive cases Sunday, bringing the total to 13,848 deaths and slightly more than 1 million cases. Officials cautioned that the data reported Sunday may be artificially low due to a delay in reporting over the holiday weekend. So many people have died in Los Angeles County that officials have temporarily suspended air-quality regulations that limit the number of cremations. Health officials and the L.A. County coroner requested the change because the current death rate is “more than double that of pre-pandemic years, leading to hospitals, funeral homes and crematoriums exceeding capacity, without the ability to process the backlog,” the South Coast Air Quality Management District said Sunday.”
They also note: “As the total number of coronavirus infections in California approaches 3 million, health officials said Sunday that a new strain — different from a highly contagious variant first identified in the United Kingdom — is popping up more frequently across the state.”
