Public Health Reports 64 New Deaths and 1,999 New Cases of Confirmed COVID-19 in Los Angeles County

COVID-19 Outbreak Investigations Continue Throughout L.A. County

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) has confirmed 64 new deaths and 1,999 new cases of COVID-19. To date, Public Health has identified 216,139 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County, and a total of 5,171 deaths.

The number of new cases reported today includes about 300 backlog cases from the State.  Additional backlog reporting of cases is expected later this week. Data sources that track other key indicators, including hospitalizations and deaths, are not affected by this reporting issue.

Currently, there are 891 COVID-19 outbreak investigations ongoing, including outbreaks at UPS, Trojan Battery and SoFi Stadium.  These three locations each have between 60 and 90 confirmed positive cases among employees. As a reminder, employers must report when three employees test positive for COVID-19. This allows Public Health to intervene early, investigate and contain the spread of this virus.

The department has closed 550 outbreak investigations for a total of 1,441 outbreak investigations throughout this pandemic.

Public Health continues to respond to high volume of Health Officer Order violation complaints and initiated nearly 32,000 investigations. Since March, Public Health investigated more than 20,000 restaurants, more than 4,700 grocery stores, and more than 3,600 other businesses.

“We mourn with the many families who have lost loved ones to COVID-19 and extend our condolences to all who are grieving,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “The only way for us to continue our recovery journey is to see lower rates of community transmission. Our actions as individuals, business owners and business operators to take the necessary steps that protect each other, workers and customers require adherence to infection control and distancing directives. Businesses need to immediately alert us when there is an outbreak. This is what is needed to get our children back to their schools and to get more of our community members back to work.”

African American/Black and Latino/Latinx residents and those in low-income communities continue to bear the brunt of this virus, both in terms of infections and deaths. Latino/Latinx currently have the highest age adjusted death rate at 71 residents per 100,000 people. The rate for African American/Black residents is 55 deaths per 100,000 people.  For comparison, the rate for White residents is 27 deaths per 100,000 people. Those who live in areas with the highest rates of poverty are more than four times more likely to die of COVID-19 compared to those who live in wealthier areas.

The recovery journey won’t be complete until these gaps are closed, while at the same time improving health outcomes for all.

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 4,857 people (99 percent of the cases reported by Public Health); 50% of deaths occurred among Latino/Latinx residents, 24% 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, 57 cases and two deaths reported earlier were not LA County residents.

Testing results are available for more than 2,012,000 individuals with 10% of all people testing positive. There are 1,481 confirmed cases currently hospitalized and 32% of these people are confirmed cases in the ICU.

Of the 64 new deaths reported today, 27 people that passed away (excluding Long Beach and Pasadena) were over the age of 80 years old, 20 people who died were between the ages of 65 and 79 years old, 12 people who died were between the ages of 50 and 64 years old, and two people who died were between the ages of 30 and 49 years old. Forty-three people had underlying health conditions including 20 people over the age of 80 years old, 15 people between the ages of 65 and 79 years old, seven people between the ages of 50 and 64 years old, and one person between the ages of 30 and 49 years old. Three deaths were reported by the City of Long Beach.

The State ELR problems have resulted in under counting, affecting the number of COVID-19 cases reported each day and our contact tracing efforts. Given the ELR delays, the department urges any person with a positive lab result to call 1-833-540-0473 to connect with a public health specialist who can provide information about services and support. Residents who do not have COVID-19 should continue to call 211 for resources or more information.

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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