Los Angeles County Announces 48 New Deaths Related to 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)

1,094 New Cases of Confirmed COVID-19 in Los Angeles County

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) has confirmed 48 new deaths and 1,094 new cases of 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). Thirty-one people who died were over the age of 65 years old; 10 people who died were between the ages of 41 and 65 years old, and one person who died was between the ages of 18 and 40 years old.  Thirty-three people had underlying health conditions including 24 people over the age of 65 years old, eight people between the ages of 41 to 65 years old, and one person between the ages of 18 and 40 years old. Six deaths were reported by the City of Long Beach.

To date, Public Health has identified 49,774 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of LA County, and a total of 2,241 deaths. Ninety-three percent of people who died had underlying health conditions. Of those who died, information about race and ethnicity is available for 2,062 people (99 percent of the cases reported by Public Health) 40% of deaths occurred among Latino/Latinx residents, 29% among White residents, 17% among Asian residents, 12% among African American residents, 1% among Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander residents and 1% among residents identifying with other races. Upon further investigation, 20 cases and one death reported earlier were not LA County residents. As of today, 6,350 people who tested positive for COVID-19 (13% of positive cases) have been hospitalized at some point during their illness. There are 1,477 people who are currently hospitalized, 27% of these people are in the ICU and 19% are on ventilators. Testing capacity continues to increase in LA County, with testing results available for nearly 531,000 individuals and 8% of people testing positive.

“As a community, we have lost far too many of our loved ones, friends and neighbors to COVID-19. For all of the people who are experiencing the profound sorrow of losing someone they love, our hearts are with you,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “There is a lot at stake as we continue our recovery journey. More people being around one another can result in more transmission of COVID-19, more cases, and likely more hospitalizations and deaths. Individuals and institutions need to continue to do their part to slow the spread of the virus.  For individuals, this means physical distancing and wearing cloth face coverings whenever you are outside of your home and around other people.  For institutions, this means closely following all directives that protect employees, customers, and people who are most vulnerable.”

The new Health Officer Order issued earlier this week, called Safer at Work and in the Community, allows for the reopening of houses of worship, office worksites, in-store shopping at retail establishments, including indoor malls and shopping centers, flea markets, swap meets and drive-in movie theaters. Political protests with limited numbers of participants are also allowed. Houses of worship can operate at 25% capacity or with a maximum of 100 people, whichever is lower, and retail establishments can operate at 50% capacity. Businesses must adhere to distancing and infection control protocols that provide safety for employees, customers and the County’s most vulnerable residents before reopening. These protocols were developed to guide reopening and are available online.

The Health Officer Order continues to require specific higher-risk businesses to remain closed and prohibit dining in at restaurants. Restaurants are still allowed to serve food to customer via delivery, take-out or drive-thru.  Public and private gatherings of any number of people outside of a single household unit are still not permitted except for public protests and faith-bases services as described in the Order. Everyone must continue to follow distancing and infection control protocols and wear a clean cloth face covering that securely covers both your nose and mouth when in contact with other people not in your household.

LA County is in stage two of the five-stage Roadmap to Recovery and until the final stage five is reached, Health Officer Orders and directives will continue to ensure that we slow spread of COVID-19 to prevent an overwhelming surge of COVID-19 cases at healthcare facilities. The Health Officer Order, COVID-19 Surveillance Interactive Dashboard, Roadmap to Recovery, Recovery Dashboard, and additional things you can do to protect yourself, your family and your community are on the Public Health website, www.publichealth.lacounty.gov.

The best protection against COVID-19 continues to be to wash your hands frequently, avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands, self-isolate if you are sick, practice physical distancing, and wear a clean face covering when in contact with others from outside your household. People who have underlying health conditions remain at much greater risk for serious illness from COVID-19, so it will continue to be very important for the County’s vulnerable residents to stay at home as much as possible, to have groceries and medicine delivered, and to call their providers immediately if they have even mild symptoms.

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