Public Health Recommends Testing for Individuals Possibly Exposed to COVID-19 and Closely Monitors Data After Labor Day Weekend

61 New Deaths and 671 New Positive Cases of Confirmed COVID-19 In Los Angeles County

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) has confirmed 61 new deaths and 671 new cases of confirmed COVID-19. The high number of new deaths are from a backlog of reports received from over the weekend, and the low number of new cases reflect reduced testing due to the excessive heat.

Public Health is carefully monitoring data over the next couple of weeks to see the impact of the holiday weekend on the transmission of the virus across County communities and recommends testing for individuals possibly exposed to COVID-19.

If you were potentially exposed to COVID-19 over the holiday weekend, you are encouraged to get tested.  For example, if you were in a crowded area this weekend and people were not wearing cloth face coverings, you should get tested.  If you were around someone who was feeling sick, you should get tested.  And if you were with someone who has tested positive for the virus, even if they never felt sick, you should get tested.  Testing sites are open and appointments are available.

Just over two weeks after Independence Day, the County experienced increases in cases, hospitalizations and deaths. For example, the 7-day average of daily reported COVID-19 cases around July 4 was about 2,200 cases per day, but two weeks later the number of new cases increased to over 3,100.

In July, the County saw the steepest increases in hospitalizations, where the average was over 2100 hospitalizations per day; the most significant peaks were two to three weeks after the July 4 holiday.  This past month however, daily hospitalizations have dropped back to an average of under 1000 hospitalizations a day, similar to the numbers in early April. Currently, there are 936 people who are confirmed cases currently hospitalized and 33% of these people are in the ICU.

The 7-day average of daily deaths before July 4 was around 30 deaths per day, and tragically, 22 days after the July 4 holiday, the number of deaths climbed up to 44 deaths per day.

To date, Public Health has identified 249,859 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County, and a total of 6,090 deaths. Testing results are available for nearly 2,393,000 individuals with 10% of all people testing positive.

“Our hearts go out to everyone who has lost a friend or a loved one to COVID-19.  We wish you healing and peace,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “We have made tremendous progress as a County since mid-July in bringing down our community transmission rates and preventing a catastrophic level of demand on our health care system. We have been successful, in large part, because people have been following what we know are the best public health practices we have. We have avoided gatherings and moved many services outdoors. Unfortunately, what we’ve learned from the past several months is that we cannot return to normal at this time; we need to maintain our vigilance so that we can continue to suppress the spread of the virus and get to a place when we can safely reopen additional sectors, especially schools.”

Last week the County announced a plan to allow for reopening K-12 schools for in-person special services for high need students. This includes students with individualized education plans and English-language learners, as well as other students who may need assessments and support that cannot be provided through virtual learning. In order to reopen for special services, Public Health ask schools to send a notification form to the department. The form is available on our website as a fillable PDF and asks for basic information – the name of the school, the anticipated number of students and staff expected by grade, and a point of contact at the school. The form also requires the school to attest to having adequate PPE in compliance with County and State guidance, a plan or protocol in place for testing and outbreak management, and that they will adhere to the school protocols.

As fall and winter approaches, Public Health asks everyone to begin to think ahead about how you will navigate the fall and winter carefully. This includes the upcoming Halloween holiday.  For this year, it is simply not safe to celebrate in the usual ways. Gatherings, events, parties, carnivals, festivals, haunted house attractions, are already prohibited under the Health Officer Order. Public Health recommends trick or treating not happen this year and offers other ways to celebrate that are safe for children and families, including hosting an online party and decorating homes and yards.  There are also some Halloween-related activities that are safer, including car parades and drive-in movie nights. Detailed guidance can be found online at: www.publichealth.lacounty.gov.

Of the 61 new deaths reported today (excluding Long Beach and Pasadena), 22 people that passed away were over the age of 80, 13 people who died were between the ages of 65 and 79 years old, 23 people who died were between the ages of 50 and 64 years old, and three people who died were between the ages of 30 and 49 years old. Forty-six people had underlying health conditions including 15 people over the age of 80 years old, 10 people between the ages of 65 and 79 years old, 19 people between the ages of 50 and 64 years old and two people between the ages of 30 and 49.

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 5,728 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. Upon further investigation, 53 cases and seven deaths reported earlier were not L.A. County residents.

Data continues to show African American/Black, Latino/Latinx, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander residents and those in low-income communities continue to have disproportionate health outcomes.  Although these numbers for highly-impacted groups are decreasing, as is the case overall in LA County, Latino/Latinx residents are three times as likely to die from COVID-19 and African American/Black residents are twice as likely to die from COVID-19 when compared to White residents. Communities with high levels of poverty are four times as likely to die of COVID-19 when compared to residents with the highest income.  Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders have a rate of hospitalization that is almost five times that of White residents. Racism and inequitable access to resources have played a significant role in the pandemic, as it does in other areas of health. This is why a wide range of actions is needed to address the inequities we continue to witness.  These include ensuring protections for workers, especially low-wage workers, offering services and support to those needing to isolate and quarantine, making sure testing is widely-available in under-resourced areas, partnering with trusted community organizations for advocacy and information sharing, and addressing discrimination and racism that limits opportunities and resources available for optimal health and well-being.

The Reopening Protocols, COVID-19 Data Dashboard, Recovery Metrics, 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:

 

Total Cases

Laboratory Confirmed Cases

249859

— Los Angeles County (excl. LB and Pas)*

236459

— Long Beach

10957

— Pasadena

2443

Deaths

6090

— Los Angeles County (excl. LB and Pas)

5746

— Long Beach

227

— Pasadena

117

Age Group (Los Angeles County Cases Only-excl LB and Pas)

– 0 to 4

3879

– 5 to 11

8424

– 12 to 17

10471

– 18 to 29

58607

– 30 to 49

81198

– 50 to 64

45736

– 65 to 79

18155

–  over 80

8557

–  Under Investigation

1432

Gender (Los Angeles County Cases Only-excl LB and Pas)

–  Female

118983

–  Male

114582

–  Other

112

–  Under Investigation

2782

Race/Ethnicity (Los Angeles County Cases Only-excl LB and Pas)

–  American Indian/Alaska Native

212

–  Asian

7420

–  Black

7067

–  Hispanic/Latino

87688

–  Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander

698

–  White

18576

–  Other

26574

–  Under Investigation

88224

Hospitalization (Los Angeles County Cases Only-excl LB and Pas)

–  Hospitalized (Ever)

17546

Deaths Race/Ethnicity (Los Angeles County Cases Only-excl LB and Pas)

–  American Indian/Alaska Native

10

–  Asian

842

–  Black

564

–  Hispanic/Latino

2921

–  Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander

15

–  White

1343

–  Other

33

–  Under Investigation

18

CITY / COMMUNITY**

Cases

Case Rate

City of Agoura Hills

156

747

City of Alhambra

1177

1357

City of Arcadia

458

793

City of Artesia

306

1822

City of Avalon

5

129

City of Azusa

1452

2902

City of Baldwin Park

2755

3589

City of Bell

1483

4082

City of Bell Gardens

1815

4214

City of Bellflower

2253

2898

City of Beverly Hills

627

1816

City of Bradbury

14

1310

City of Burbank

1381

1288

City of Calabasas

245

1007

City of Carson

1745

1859

City of Cerritos

537

1073

City of Claremont

358

981

City of Commerce*

545

4170

City of Compton

3806

3810

City of Covina

1306

2664

City of Cudahy

1048

4304

City of Culver City

373

936

City of Diamond Bar

513

892

City of Downey

3825

3348

City of Duarte

517

2348

City of El Monte

4152

3541

City of El Segundo

125

745

City of Gardena

1192

1944

City of Glendale

3267

1582

City of Glendora

1191

2257

City of Hawaiian Gardens

507

3455

City of Hawthorne

1860

2095

City of Hermosa Beach

199

1012

City of Hidden Hills

6

317

City of Huntington Park

2720

4573

City of Industry

36

8238

City of Inglewood

2719

2394

City of Irwindale

68

4661

City of La Canada Flintridge

172

831

City of La Habra Heights

39

715

City of La Mirada

801

1615

City of La Puente

1427

3506

City of La Verne

429

1289

City of Lakewood

1194

1486

City of Lancaster*

3060

1894

City of Lawndale

595

1770

City of Lomita

233

1124

City of Lynwood*

3085

4282

City of Malibu

100

772

City of Manhattan Beach

332

922

City of Maywood

1364

4863

City of Monrovia

709

1827

City of Montebello

2156

3349

City of Monterey Park

915

1470

City of Norwalk

3074

2856

City of Palmdale

3787

2382

City of Palos Verdes Estates

90

666

City of Paramount

2270

4052

City of Pico Rivera

2282

3550

City of Pomona

5163

3311

City of Rancho Palos Verdes

278

650

City of Redondo Beach

526

766

City of Rolling Hills

10

515

City of Rolling Hills Estates

40

493

City of Rosemead

788

1424

City of San Dimas*

493

1428

City of San Fernando

844

3429

City of San Gabriel

600

1465

City of San Marino

83

625

City of Santa Clarita

3120

1415

City of Santa Fe Springs

525

2859

City of Santa Monica

816

883

City of Sierra Madre

68

619

City of Signal Hill

258

2187

City of South El Monte

766

3668

City of South Gate

4195

4274

City of South Pasadena

258

990

City of Temple City

502

1377

City of Torrance

1340

898

City of Vernon

10

4785

City of Walnut

249

816

City of West Covina

2692

2487

City of West Hollywood

512

1386

City of Westlake Village

29

347

City of Whittier

2108