Public Health Underscores Safety Guidance & Importance of Contact Tracing as Community Spread of COVID-19 Continues

21 New Deaths and 1,324 New Positive Cases of Confirmed COVID-19 in Los Angeles County; Two New Cases of MIS-C in Children Reported

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) has confirmed 21 new deaths and 1,324 new cases of COVID-19. To date, Public Health identified 272,653 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County and a total of 6,626 deaths.

Public Health is reporting two additional cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C). This brings the total cases of MIS-C in L.A. County to 40 children. All 40 children with MIS-C in L.A. County were hospitalized and nearly 50% of the children were treated in the ICU. Of the children with MIS-C, 27% were under the age of 5 years old, 38% were between the ages of 5 and 11 years old, and 35% were between the ages of 12 and 20 years old. Latino/Latinx children account for 70% of the reported cases. There have been no reported MIS-C deaths in LA County children.

There continues to be widespread COVID-19 transmission in L.A. County.  It is important that everyone follow the safety measures that minimize COVID-19 transmission and saves lives, including avoiding gatherings with people not from your household.

If you think you have been exposed to COVID-19, this includes a person diagnosed with or likely to have COVID-19, it is very important that you quarantine for 14 days and stay away from all other people, especially those at greater risk of becoming seriously ill from COVID-19, and monitor your health during the 14 days.  This is required to prevent you from unintentionally spreading COVID-19 to other people.

You should get tested if you were exposed to COVID-19.  If you think you could be positive for COVID-19 and are awaiting testing results, it is important to stay at home and act as if you are positive for the virus.  This means staying 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.

“To everyone who is grieving the loss of a family member or a friend who has passed away from COVID-19, I extend my deepest sympathies,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “Recent cases and concerns about transmission of the virus among our national leaders and their staff members are a reminder to everyone about how important it is to use the tools we have to slow the spread of COVID-19. Wearing a cloth face covering and keeping physical distance when around people you do not live with is a very important action everyone needs to take to protect themselves and other people from transmission. Gatherings of any kind, even with people you know who have no symptoms, can easily result in transmission of the virus to many people, especially when people are not diligent about wearing face coverings and keeping physical distance.  Because of the virus’ long incubation period, even a person who has recently tested negative for the virus could be positive within hours of testing and have the ability to infect other people unknowingly. Each of us being diligent in slowing the spread of COVID-19 saves lives.”

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, Public Health continues to encourage participation with case investigation and contact tracing efforts. To date, over 134,000 people who are or were positive for COVID-19 completed the case investigation interview process. More than 81,000 contacts, or people that were exposed to the virus, were identified, and nearly 59,000 close contacts completed interviews. Obtaining as much information as possible from people during the case investigation interview helps contain this virus and minimize outbreaks, and it is a crucial part of protecting the health of communities.

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.

We encourage anyone who receives a call from Public Health to speak to our contact tracers. If a contact tracer calls, it will display on your phone as “LA Public Health” or as 833-641-0305.

Public Health has a dedicated call line for confirmed cases of COVID-19. If you are positive with COVID-19 and have not yet connected with a public health specialist or need more information on services, call toll-free at 1-833-540-0473. Residents who do not have COVID-19 should continue to call 2-1-1 for resources or more information.

Of the 21 new deaths reported today, four people that passed away were over the age of 80 years old, seven people who died were between the ages of 65 and 79 years old, five 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. Fourteen people who died had underlying health conditions including three people over the age of 80, seven people between the ages of 65 and 79 years old, three 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.

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 6,235 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, 42 cases and five deaths reported earlier were not L.A. County residents.

Testing results are available for nearly 2,693,000 individuals with 9% of all people testing positive.  There are 730 confirmed cases currently hospitalized and 27% of these people are confirmed cases in the ICU.

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: