By Jorge Casuso

November 16, 2020 -- The number of weekly coronaviris cases nearly doubled in Santa Monica last week -- hitting a record 131 new cases -- but the number of deaths has remained steady.

The new cases shattered the record 70 reported the previous week and brought the total number of cases to 1,250 in the city of 93,000, according to data released by the Los Angeles County Health Department.

The number of Santa Monica residents who had the virus when they died remained steady last week at 41, with only two deaths reported over the past three months, according to an analysis of Health Department data.

The local trend reflects a dramatic drop nationwide in deaths involving Covid-19 that peaked at the end of April, according to the latest data released by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

The local spike in cases is part of a countywide surge that reached levels last seen in mid-July, health officials said. The number of daily cases last week ranged from 2,152 on Tuesday to 3,780 on Friday.

The daily average number of cases spiked to 2,731 last week, up from a little more than 750 daily cases in mid-September and nearly 1,400 cases in mid-October.

There were 1,049 persons infected with the virus hospitalized on Sunday, up from 855 the previous Sunday, with 28 percent in the ICU, health officials said.

The increase in cases and hospitalizations prompted health officials to urge residents to "stay home as much as possible for the next two to three weeks except for accessing essential services."

“Given our recent huge increases in daily cases and now hospitalizations, it is clear that L.A. County is at a very dangerous point in the pandemic," said Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer.

"I ask every resident and business across the county to put slowing the spread of COVID-19 at the very top of mind, all day and every day," Ferrer said. "There is no path forward for our recovery until we get this pandemic back under control."

Despite the increases in cases and hospitalizations, the number of deaths related to COVID-19 remained at a daily average of 16 for the second week in a row. That represents a dramatic drop from a daily average of 44 deaths in late July.

Of those who have died with the virus, 93 percent had underlying health conditions, according to County officials.

Last week, the CDC reported that of the 223,984 deaths involving the coronavirus, on average, there were 2.6 additional conditions or causes per death.

By far the leading condition was influenza and pneumonia, which contributed to 95,778 deaths. Respiratory failure contributed to 77,611 deaths and hypertensive disease to 47,455 deaths.

Diabetes contributed to 36,204 deaths, while obesity contributed to 8,366 deaths, despite being a highly publicized underlying condition.

“Intentional and unintentional injury, poisoning and other adverse events” contributed to 7,919 deaths involving the coronavirus, according to the CDC.

In LA County, testing results are available for nearly 3,410,000 individuals with 9 percent of those testing positive.