LA County Sees Significant Increase in COVID-19 Transmission Between 18 and 40 Year old Residents

48 New Deaths and 1,584 New Cases of Confirmed COVID-19 in Los Angeles County

Today, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) reports almost 50% of new cases occur among younger people with the most significant increase in the percentage of cases among residents between 18 and 40 years old.

Hospitalizations for individuals between 18 and 40 years old have also increased from a little over 10% of hospitalized cases in April to about 25% in July.

There are 1,921 people currently hospitalized, 28% of these people are confirmed cases in the ICU and 18% are confirmed cases on ventilators.

Testing results are available for nearly 1,199,000 individuals, with 9% of people testing positive. The 7-day average of the daily positivity rate is 9.5%.

The Understanding America Study that is administered by USC’s Dornsife Center reports that 55.2% of LA County residents had close contact (within 6 feet) with people who do not live with them in the last 7 days. This is an increase from the 30.5% reported from April 8-14.

“Many families are experiencing the profound grief of losing a loved one to COVID-19. We are so sorry for your loss, and wish you healing and peace,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “Thank you to the businesses and individuals that are working so hard to adhere to the protocols we have laid out, which are now more important than ever. Our ability to follow the most basic infection control and distancing directives reduces serious illness, and even death of the people we love, and the death of those loved by others. What we do now determines where we are in 3-4 weeks. The sooner we all recommit to taking care of each other, the sooner we create a new normal, where we get back to work, school, and our friends and extended family.”

Public Health urges everyone to avoid the Three C’s: Crowded places, Confined spaces and Close contact with others not in your household. Everyone should always wear a face covering securely over your nose and mouth and keep six feet apart from others not in your household when out in public. Businesses must continue to follow Public Health directives.  Public Health reminds everyone that you remain safer at home.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a health advisory warning everyone to not use any hand sanitizer manufactured by “Eskbiochem SA de CV” in Mexico, due to the potential presence of methanol, a “toxic alcohol”, as an active ingredient, which can cause blindness and/or death when absorbed through the skin or when swallowed.

Most commercially available alcohol-based hand sanitizers or rubs contain either ethanol or isopropanol as active ingredients and are safe to use.

Today, Public Health has confirmed 48 new deaths  and 1,584 new cases of COVID-19. Thirty-three people who died were over the age of 65 years old, 13 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. Forty-one people had underlying health conditions including 28 people over the age of 65 years old, 12 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 Pasadena.

To date, Public Health has identified 116,570 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of LA County, and a total of 3,534 deaths. Ninety-three percent of people who died had underlying health conditions. Of those who died, information about race and ethnicity is available for 3,283 people (99 percent of the cases reported by Public Health); 44% of deaths occurred among Latino/Latinx residents, 27% among White residents, 16% 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, seven cases and one death reported earlier were not LA County residents.

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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