Public Health Reports 23 New Deaths and 1,476 New Cases of Confirmed COVID-19 in Los Angeles County

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) has confirmed 23 new deaths and 1,476 new cases of COVID-19. New cases and reported deaths are typically lower on weekends as some labs only report on weekdays.

To date, Public Health has identified 192,167 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County, and a total of 4,692 deaths. Upon further investigation, 2 cases reported earlier were not L.A. County residents.

Of the new cases reported today, 68% occurred among individuals under the age of 50. The cumulative total of cases among people between the ages of 18 and 49 years old is 60%.

There are 1,856 people with confirmed cases of COVID-19 currently hospitalized. Of hospitalized patients, 31% are in the ICU and 18% are currently ventilated. The number of patients hospitalized each day has dropped over this past week, which may indicate that actions taken over the last three weeks to slow the spread are beginning to have an impact.

Of the 23 new deaths reported today, seven people that passed away (excluding Long Beach and Pasadena) were over the age of 80, six people who died were between the ages of 65 and 79 years old, six people who died were between the ages of 50 and 64 years old, three people who died were between the ages of 30 and 49 years old and one person died between the ages of 18 to 29 years old. Twenty-three people had underlying health conditions including seven people over the age of 80 years old, six people between the ages of 65 and 79 years old, six people between the ages of 50 and 64 years old, three people between the ages of 30 and 49 years old and one person between the ages of 18 to 29 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 4,407 people (99 percent of the cases reported by Public Health); 48% of deaths occurred among Latino/Latinx residents, 25% among White residents, 15% 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.

Testing results are available for 1,790,586 individuals with 10% of all people testing positive.

“We join in prayer and sorrow with all those experiencing loss during this pandemic and send our wishes for peace and healing,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “We are hopeful that collective actions taken over the past couple of weeks have allowed us to get back to the work of slowing the spread.  It is important to keep in mind that we will need to continue with all the modifications and sacrifices for weeks to come.  This is especially true if we want to see our schools re-open for classroom instruction.  With increased contact among non-household members, there are many more opportunities for transmission of COVID-19, particularly when public health directives are not followed. We’re safer in the community only if we follow the very specific directives issued by public health. We have a collective responsibility to take immediate action, as individuals and businesses, to slow the spread of COVID-19.  The Health Officer Orders are clear about what we need to do.  If we can’t find it in us to follow these mandates, including wearing face coverings, distancing when around others, and not having or attending gatherings with non-household members, we jeopardize our ability to move forward on our recovery journey.”

The best protection against COVID-19 continues to be to practice physical distancing, wash your hands frequently, self-isolate if you are sick 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 24 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.

Public Health has a dedicated call line for confirmed cases of COVID-19. If you are positive for COVID-19 and have not yet connected with a public health specialist or need more information on services, call toll-free at 1-833-540-0473. Residents who do not have COVID-19 should continue to call 211 for resources or more information.

If someone receives a negative test result, they must continue to take every precaution to avoid contracting the virus or spreading the virus to others. A negative test result indicates only that a person wasn’t positive at the time they were tested.

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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