Public Health Reports 40 New Deaths and 810 New Positive Cases of Confirmed COVID-19 in Los Angeles County

Los Angeles County Meets Metric Thresholds for Tier 2 – Must Meet Thresholds for 2 Consecutive Weeks Before Moving Tiers

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) has confirmed 40 new deaths and 810 new cases of confirmed COVID-19.  To date, Public Health has identified 262,133 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County and a total of 6,401 deaths.

Public Health is closely monitoring the number of daily hospitalizations related to COVID-19. Unlike the daily number of cases, which reflects the number of people tested in L.A. County, the number of hospitalizations is a stable indicator representing the number of people who are seriously ill from COVID-19.  During the pandemic we have seen increases in the numbers of hospitalizations three to four weeks after an event where there was widespread transmission of COVID-19, including after holiday weekends or sector re-openings.

The County continues to see the number of daily COVID-19 hospitalizations decline from the July 20 peak of a 3-day average of over 2,200 hospitalizations.  There are 745 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 and 28% of these people are in the ICU. Even in the last month, since the end of August, there has been a significant decrease from an average of 1,200 daily hospitalizations to the average this past week of under 800 hospitalizations per day.  We are hoping that we do not see an increase in the number of daily hospitalizations in the upcoming weeks associated with activities that occurred over the Labor Day holiday.

It is important for all L.A. County residents to remember that COVID-19 is responsible for many people becoming seriously ill.  Throughout this pandemic thousands of people have had long hospital stays and many may still be feeling the effects of their sickness weeks or even months later. People of all ages have underlying health conditions, like asthma, heart disease, diabetes, and conditions that weaken a person’s immune system, and are at greater risk of having serious illness if infected with COVID-19.  For this reason, it is crucial that all residents continue to assume the people around them may have an underlying health condition and to use all the tools we have for protecting others from the virus: keep physical distance of at least 6 feet and wear a cloth face covering whenever outside your home and around others; wash or sanitize hands frequently; get tested if you are having symptoms of COVID-19; isolate if you are positive for the virus; and quarantine if you have been a close contact of someone who has tested positive.

According to the State’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy, Los Angeles County has met the metric thresholds for Tier 2 (Substantial risk level). Per the State guidelines, Los Angeles County must continue to meet these metric thresholds for two consecutive weeks before moving into Tier 2. The State also announced that counties may now make their own determination to allow nail salons to resume indoor operations. Public Health will be consulting with the Board of Supervisors to determine the timing of adopting changes to the County Health Officer Order that would allow nail salons to resume modified indoor operations.

“Our hearts go out to all who are mourning loved ones and friends who have passed away from COVID-19,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “Public Health is heartened that Los Angeles County has met the thresholds that may allow us in the near future to move into Tier 2 of California’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy. We plan to closely monitor our data to understand how effectively we are slowing the spread of COVID-19 after the Labor Day holiday and the impact of re-opening schools for high need students and re-opening hair salons for indoor operations. We thank Los Angeles County residents, workers, and businesses who have continued to take the steps needed to slow the spread, including wearing their face coverings, physically distancing, and not gathering with people outside their household.”

Of the 40 new deaths reported today, 15 people that passed away were over the age of 80 years old, 12 people who died were between the ages of 65 and 79 years old, seven people who died were between the ages of 50 and 64 years old, four people who died were between the ages of 30 and 49 years old, and one person who died was between the ages of 18 and 29 years old. Twenty-seven people who died had underlying health conditions including eleven people over the age of 80, nine people between the ages of 65 and 79 years old, and four people between the ages of 50 and 64 years old, and three people between the ages of 30 to 49 years old. One death was reported by the City of Pasadena.

Testing results are available for more than 2,563,000 individuals with 9% of all people testing positive.

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 6,022 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, 123 cases and five deaths reported earlier were not L.A. County residents.

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.

Please see additional information below: