A COVID death every 10 minutes: L.A. County uses Twitter to humanize pandemic’s toll
“A football fan that rooted for the Raiders, even after they moved to Oakland.”
“An ER nurse who worked doubles for months on end.”
“Grandpa.”
Every 10 minutes, someone in Los Angeles County dies from COVID-19, LA Public Health said. Each person who dies is someone with a story, not just a number — and a chilling social media campaign is highlighting that.
To humanize the loss during the pandemic, the LA Public Health Twitter account has posted the description of someone who could’ve died from the virus — every 10 minutes on the dot
The descriptions include a neighborhood handyman, an abuelita, an uncle, a photographer and countless others. Health officials characterized each person as someone who has gone above and beyond to touch someone else’s life in a specific way.
The Twitter campaign began Wednesday, the same day the county announced it had passed 10,000 confirmed COVID-19 deaths, the health officials said in a news release.
“People who were loved and will be missed,” LA Public Health said on Twitter. “Until we slow the spread, the next person to tragically pass away could be someone you know.”
Since the pandemic began, more than 756,000 people in Los Angeles County have tested positive for COVID-19, according to the county. At least 10,056 people have died as of Wednesday.
Cases have been skyrocketing at rates health officials call “staggering.”
“Two months ago, L.A. County experienced around 1,200 cases a day,” LA Public Health reported. “This past week, we have averaged 13,000 new cases each day; this represents a tenfold increase in daily cases in just two months – a number that is staggering.”
Health officials expect the number of cases to increase after holiday travel. The number of hospitalizations and deaths are also increasing “at much faster rates,” LA Public Health reported.
To help slow the spread of COVID-19, each tweet that gets sent out as part of the social media campaign includes a reminder: “Please stay home tonight. Slow the spread. Save a life.”
This story was originally published December 31, 2020 at 11:49 AM with the headline "A COVID death every 10 minutes: L.A. County uses Twitter to humanize pandemic’s toll."