Data Shows L.A. County Makes Continued Progress against COVID-19

31 New Deaths and 1,148 New Positive Cases of Confirmed COVID-19 in Los Angeles County

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) has confirmed 31 new deaths and 1,148 new cases of confirmed COVID-19.  To date, Public Health has identified 256,148 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County, and a total of 6,303 deaths.

The number of new cases has steadily decreased through August and September. Last week the average daily number of cases was 800, compared with over 2,000 just a month ago. Public Health will continue to watch this indicator closely because it may be artificially low due to reduced testing numbers seen over the last two weeks.

Our test positivity rate has averaged 3% for the past week. Just a month ago, in mid-August, this rate averaged 5%.  A decreased test positivity rate is often a sign of reduced community transmission.

There are 804 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 and 30% of these people are in the ICU. The number of daily hospitalizations has returned to levels seen early in pandemic, at around 800 daily hospitalizations.  We are hoping that over the Labor Day Holiday everyone continued to do their best to reduce transmission so we don’t experience another surge in hospitalizations a few weeks from now.

L.A. County continues to be in the State’s Tier 1, due to the current adjusted daily case rate of 8.1 cases per 100,000 residents. To move to Tier 2, the County’s case rate needs to be less than 7 new cases a day per 100,000 residents for two consecutive weeks.  The County’s test positivity rate is 3.2% which places the County in Tier 3 for this metric.  However, the State places Counties in the most restrictive Tier when the metrics fall in two different tiers, so the County remains in Tier 1 because of the daily case rate.

“Our hearts go out to all the families and friends that are experiencing sadness and grief over losing a loved one to COVID-19,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “This pandemic has been difficult and frustrating in many ways, including placing limits on how we can celebrate safely. On Friday evening, many people across the County will begin observing Rosh Hashana, and we wish all of you a happy new year!  As you plan your high holidays, please remember that, while we are in this pandemic, the kindest thing we can do for one another is to protect each other from potentially becoming infected with COVID-19.  All worship services for every denomination need to be held outdoors with adherence to distancing, infection control, and face covering requirements.  Please be sure to keep each other safe.”

Of the 31 new deaths reported today, 17 people that passed away were over the age of 80 years old, four people who died were between the ages of 65 and 79 years old, and nine people who died were between the ages of 50 and 64 years old. Twenty-three people who died had underlying health conditions including 13 people over the age of 80, three people between the ages of 65 and 79 years old, and seven people between the ages of 50 and 64 years old. One death was reported by the City of Long Beach.

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 5,928 people (99 percent of the cases reported by Public Health); 51% of deaths occurred among Latino/Latinx residents, 23% 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, 49 cases and one death reported earlier were not L.A. County residents.

Public Health continues to report data on highly impacted groups that continue to experience disproportionate health outcomes.  The data shows that over time our cases are decreasing across all groups and the gaps are starting to close.

At the mid- July peak, the average daily cases among Latino/Latinx residents were 200 cases per 100,000 people.  This was four times higher than the rate for White residents at 50 cases per 100,000 people and five times higher than that of Asian residents’ 37 cases per 100,000 people. Case rates among African American/Black residents at 80 per 100,000 people during this time period were also far higher than that of White and Asian residents.

As of early September, the case rate for Latino/Latinx residents dropped to 40 cases per 100,000 people; while still twice that of White residents with a rate of 24 cases per 100,000 people, this is a significant narrowing of the gap. The case rate among African American/Black residents is now only slightly higher than that of White residents at 24 cases per 100,000 people.  The case rate among Asian residents continue to be the lowest at about 10 cases per 100,000 people.

Public Health is also seeing decreases in deaths among races and ethnicity groups.  During the July peak, the mortality rate among Latino/Latinx residents was 6 deaths per 100,000 people, four times that of White residents who had a mortality rate of 1.4 deaths per 100,000 people.  The mortality rate among Black residents was 4 deaths per 100,000, and the mortality rate among Asian residents was 2.7 deaths per 100,000.   As of September 6, the mortality rate among Latino/Latinx residents decreased to 2 deaths per 100,000 people, twice that of White residents and Asian residents who both have a mortality rate of 1 death per 100,000.  Similarly, the mortality rate among African American/Black residents decreased to around 1 death per 100,000 people.

We continue to also see higher mortality rates among people living in areas with fewer resources, when compared to mortality rates among people in the areas with the most resources. During the peak, the mortality rate among people living in the areas with the fewest resources was 6.5 per 100,000 people, three times that of people living in high-resource areas.  In early September, the mortality rate among people living in areas with the fewest resources was 2.5 per 100,000 people, which is still almost three times that of people living in the highest-resource areas.

These are very important numbers to consider as we make decisions about the path forward over the next few months.  We will need to be mindful of the impact of our re-openings and actions both across the county and among the people who are most affected by this pandemic, as we continue to work together to address the inequitable distribution of resources and opportunities that are essential for optimal health and well-being.

Testing results are available for more than 2,477,000 individuals with 10% of all people testing positive.

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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