COVID-19 Cases, Hospitalizations and Positivity Rates Increasing

25 New Deaths and 1,809 New Cases of Confirmed COVID-19 in Los Angeles County

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) is reporting increases in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and the positivity rate for testing over the last several weeks. The 7-day average of daily new cases is now 1,979; an increase from the 1,379 average two weeks ago. There are 1,676 people who are currently hospitalized. This is higher than 1350 to 1450 daily hospitalizations seen in recent weeks. Testing results are available for over 1,020,000 individuals with 9% of people testing positive. Both the cumulative positivity rate has increased from 8% to 9%, and the 7-day average of the daily positivity rate has increased to 8.8%. Public Health reminds everyone that you remain safer at home and to always wear a face covering securely over your nose and mouth and keep six feet apart from others not in your household when out and about.

Today, Public Health has confirmed 25 new deaths and 1,809 new cases of 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). Nineteen people who died were over the age of 65 years old, four 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. Twenty-two people had underlying health conditions including 19 people over the age of 65 years old, two people between the ages of 41 to 65 years old, and one person between the ages of 18 and 40 years old. One death was reported by the City of Long Beach.

To date, Public Health has identified 93,232 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of LA County, and a total of 3,267 deaths. Ninety-four percent of people who died had underlying health conditions. Of those who died, information about race and ethnicity is available for 3,041 people (99 percent of the cases reported by Public Health); 43% of deaths occurred among Latino/Latinx residents, 28% among White residents, 17% among Asian residents, 11% among African American/Black residents, less than 1% among Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander residents and 1% among residents identifying with other races. Upon further investigation, 44 cases and four deaths reported earlier were not LA County residents.

“Many across our communities have lost loved ones to COVID-19, and our hearts go out to all of you.  You are in our thoughts and prayers every day,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “While we did anticipate increases in cases as sectors reopened, we did not expect the increases to be this steep this quickly. Without immediate actions to slow the spread, we risk having too many people requiring hospital care and possibly overwhelming our healthcare system.  Preventing the continued surge in cases and hospitalizations calls on each of us to do our part. The time for all of LA County to do the right thing is now.  Please don’t take a chance infecting someone else – wear a face covering and keep your distance.”

As the weekend approaches, Public Health underscores the collective responsibility shared between everyone including businesses and residents to slow the spread of COVID-19. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, weekend visits to nightlife spots like bars, breweries, wineries, lounges and dive bars was around 700,000. Once Safer at Home went into effect, weekend visits dropped to around 200,000. Recent estimated number of visits to nightlife spots in LA county have shown between April 6, when nightlife visits were at their lowest since the Safer at Home order was in effect, and June 20, the weekend after these businesses were permitted to reopen following infection control directives, visits increased 157%. It is estimated that over 500,000 people visited LA County nightlife spots on June 20.  Because this virus has not changed and is still easily transmitted among people in contact with each other, it is important for everyone to follow the directives and to do their part every day to keep everyone as safe as possible.

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. It’s important if someone thinks they could be positive for COVID-19 and are awaiting testing results, to stay at home and act as if they are positive. This means self-isolating for 10 days and 72 hours after symptoms and fever subside, or until they receive a negative result. If a person tests positive for COVID-19, they should plan on receiving a call from a contact tracer to discuss how to protect themselves and others, to find out where they may have been, and who they were in close contact with while infectious. 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.

The Reopening Protocols, 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.

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