24 New Deaths and 733 New Positive Cases of Confirmed COVID-19 in Los Angeles County

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) has confirmed 24 new deaths and 733 new cases of confirmed COVID-19.  The lower number of cases today reflect a weekend reporting lag and reduced testing due to poor air quality.

Actions that increase transmission and actions that decrease transmission of COVID-19 have a ripple effect among all County residents.  As a result of the Safer at Home Order, when people were asked to stay home unless they needed to access essential services and when schools and many businesses were closed for in-person services, the number of cases remained fairly steady at 1,000 or less new cases per day.

As recreational activities and businesses reopened, starting May 8, and as people were exposed to more non-household members when out, whether at work, while shopping, while protesting, and/or while celebrating Memorial Day and Independence Day, the County saw cases, and as a result hospitalizations and deaths, increase and spike in an alarming manner in mid-July.

After re-closing some businesses, and moving other business operations outdoors, the County’s case numbers decreased significantly, and we are back to consistently slowing the spread.

To date, Public Health has identified 254,656 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County, and a total of 6,231 deaths.

“Tens of thousands of people are facing a future without someone they love because that person has passed away from COVID-19. Our hearts go out to all of you who are grieving, and again we are so sorry for your loss,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “Slowing the spread of the virus has required us  to work together in ways that we really haven’t needed to do before – from our government agencies to our community organizations and institutions, from our businesses to each and every resident in our community – so many have taken and continue to take actions to protect themselves and to protect other people.  This pandemic is frustrating and heartbreaking –  and not the least of it is that we desperately want to go back to living our lives the way they were before.  Unfortunately, as we have already experienced, doing so creates illness and devastation for many, including people who are very vulnerable. For this reason, I am extraordinarily grateful to everyone that is doing what is right during a pandemic and being part of the solution to drive down transmission so that we can get children back to schools and people back to work.”

Currently, there are 775 confirmed cases currently hospitalized and 35% of these people are confirmed cases in the ICU. Throughout this pandemic thousands of people have had long hospital stays and many more have become sick and may still be feeling the effects of their sickness weeks or even months later.

Testing results are available for more than 2,459,000 individuals with 10% of all people testing positive.  Testing capacity across the County remains high. Public Health encourages residents to get tested if:

• You are having symptoms of COVID-19.
• If you have been in contact with a person who has tested positive for the virus.
• If you think there is a chance you were exposed to COVID-19 because you were working, especially in essential services, in a place where you are frequently exposed to other people.
• If you live in a place where you share living spaces with other people who may be positive for COVID-19.
• If you have been in a crowd or gathering where people were close together and not wearing face coverings and/or keeping their distance.

By finding out if you are positive, even if you have no symptoms yet, you can quickly isolate and prevent other people from becoming infected.

Of the 24 new deaths reported today, nine people that passed away were over the age of 80 years old, five people who died were between the ages of 65 and 79 years old and 10 people who died were between the ages of 50 and 64 years old. Eighteen people who died had underlying health conditions including six people over the age of 80, four people between the ages of 65 and 79 years old and eight people between the ages of 50 and 64 years old.

Ninety-two percent of the people who died from COVID-19 had underlying health conditions. Of those who died, information about race and ethnicity is available for 5,859 people (99 percent of the cases reported by Public Health); 51% of deaths occurred among Latino/Latinx residents, 23% among White residents, 15% among Asian residents, 10% 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, 62 cases and one death reported earlier were not L.A. County residents.

Over the next six weeks, Public Health will be working with schools across the County that are re-opening for services to a limited number of cohorted students with high need for in-person support.  To date, Public Health has received 59 applications from schools to reopen. Public Health will be posting, weekly, the list of schools who have submitted applications, and schools can expect that our public team of specialists will be in touch to provide technical assistance.

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.

Please see additional information below: