Public Health Reports 5 New Deaths and 798 New Positive Cases of Confirmed COVID-19 in Los Angeles County

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) has confirmed 5 new deaths and 798 new cases of confirmed COVID-19. The 7-day average of new cases is 1,143, which has declined steadily over the past month. Of note, low case and deaths counts today likely reflect a reporting lag due to the holiday weekend. This brings the cumulative number of positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County to 248,334, and a total of 6,005 deaths.

After the Memorial Day and July 4th holidays we saw increases in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. One factor contributing to the spike was people gathering with others that were not part of their household at crowded barbecues and parties. Public Health urges everyone to take extra measures to protect each other as we celebrate Labor Day. If you have 10 guests over to your house to celebrate the holiday you are adding risk that any of your guests could introduce the COVID-19 virus into your household, or if you or one of your household members have an asymptomatic infection, the virus may be passed along to any or all of your 10 guests.  The smaller the number of people we interact with, the less community transmission occurs.

Public health continues tracking the number of positive cases and deaths among healthcare workers (HCW) related to the COVID-19 pandemic response. There have been a total 87 deaths and a total of 14,448 positive cases among healthcare workers and first responders in Los Angeles County. Nurses continue to account for the majority of cases (37%) and deaths (41%) among healthcare workers. One-third (33%) of healthcare workers who tested positive for the virus worked at skilled nursing and assisted living facilities and 26% of healthcare workers testing positive worked at hospitals.

“Our hearts are with all who have lost their loved ones to COVID-19, and may peace and comfort find each of you during these difficult times,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “Our thoughts are also with all the families and friends of health care workers, who worry each day about the risks their loved ones face as they care for our sick and disabled residents. Nearly 250,000 residents in our county have been infected with COVID-19 and thousands have required hospitalization. Thousands of additional residents have sought care at clinics and doctors’ offices, and thousands more are residents in nursing and assisted living facilities. Everyone needing care has been served by dedicated and skilled teams of front-line health care workers who are at higher risk of exposure to COVID-19 than most everyone else. This labor day holiday serves as a reminder of our collective responsibility to make sure that all health care workers have appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE), training, and access to quality health care. It should also prompt us to double-down on all efforts to reduce community transmission. This is the best way we can ensure that essential health care workers are at less risk.”

Of the five new deaths reported today, one person that passed away was over the age of 80, three people who died were between the ages of 65 and 79 years old and one person who died was between the ages of 50 and 64 years old. Four people had underlying health conditions including one person over the age of 80, two people who died were between the ages of 65 and 79 years old and one person 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 5,647 people (99 percent of the cases reported by Public Health); 51% 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.

There are currently 966 people hospitalized, of which 32% are confirmed cases in the ICU. Upon further investigation, six cases reported earlier were not L.A. County residents. Testing results are available for 2,373,050 individuals with 10% of all people testing positive.

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 stay home except to get medical care and separate yourself from others until at least 10 days have passed since the onset of symptoms, and you have had no fever for at least 24 hours and your symptoms have improved. 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.

As the County experiences record-breaking heat for the next couple days, Public Health urges all residents to take precautions to avoid exposure to the heat and to seek out a cooling center if you have limited ability to remain cool and safe from the high temperatures. Cooling centers adhere to all public health COVID-19 directives and offer a protected place for people to go. Information about cooling centers and tips for avoiding heat related illness can be found at https://ready.lacounty.gov/heat/

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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