L.A. County Sees Increase in Reported New COVID-19 Cases, Hospitalizations Remain Low and Stable

30 New Deaths and 1,645 New Cases of Confirmed COVID-19 in Los Angeles

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) has confirmed 30 new deaths and 1,645 new cases of confirmed COVID-19. While today is the highest number of new cases in a single day reported since late August, it is not indicative of a trend. Public Health will continue monitoring the number of new cases reported closely along with other key indicators.

There are 696 confirmed cases of COVID-19 currently hospitalized and 28% of these people are confirmed cases in the ICU.  The number of daily hospitalizations has remained stable and under 800 daily hospitalizations since mid-September.

The 7-day average number of daily deaths has steadily declined from about 30 deaths a day at the end of August to about 15 deaths a day.

The County’s percent positivity or the percentage of total tests that are positive, has remained steady at a level close to 3% for several weeks.  For comparison, the percent positivity was around 8% in July. We are hoping to continue to drive down this number. Percent positivity is used to understand the extent of community spread and is a helpful early indicator when spread begins to increase.

To date, Public Health has identified 277,445 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County, and a total of 6,709 deaths.

Yesterday, the State incorporated an additional metric to their Blueprint for a Safer Economy.  Because most counties, including L.A. County, have significant differences in COVID-19 outcomes by race, ethnicity and socioeconomic status, it is important to not only look at COVID-19 indicators across the entire county, but also to understand the experiences among different racial and ethnic groups and people who live in areas with unequal access to resources.  The metric calculates the test positivity rate for those areas within counties that are less advantaged and compares this rate to the overall County test positivity rate.  The goal is to have a reduction in disease transmission in all communities.

Currently L.A. County continues to be in Tier 1, the most restrictive tier, because the County’s adjusted case rate is 7.4 new cases per 100,000 people. Both test positivity rates meet the threshold for Tier 3; the overall test positivity rate is 2.8%, and the test positivity rate in our lowest-resourced areas is 4.6%.

African American/Black and Latino/Latinx residents and those who live in high poverty areas in the U.S. have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. The County is focused on understanding and eliminating gaps in COVID-19 outcomes and routinely report on data by race and ethnicity as well as area poverty in order to understand what gaps exist and our progress closing the gaps.

The County has made progress in closing the gaps. At the end of September, death rates for all races and ethnicities are lower than they’ve been since the beginning of July.  Latino/Latinx residents experience 3 times the rate of death when compared to White residents; this is a decline from Latino/Latinx residents experiencing 4 times higher than that of White residents during the July peak. Black residents have seen deaths fluctuate over time, and now are about equal to the mortality rates for Asians.  The mortality rate among people living in areas with the highest levels of poverty remains 4 times that of people living in the lowest levels of poverty.

We need to continue to work hard to close these gaps by addressing the inequitable distribution of resources and opportunities that are essential for optimal health and well-being.

One example of efforts to address the needs of hard hit communities can be seen at the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Public Health by the Community Healing and Trauma Prevention Center and their partners.  The Healing Center, located in South Los Angeles, works with over 50 partners and offers the community wholistic free trauma education and prevention services.  The Center provides free therapy support groups and classes that promote mental and physical health and wellness. The Healing Center moved many services online, and prioritized services that directly addressed the difficulties residents have been experiencing through this pandemic, in particular, toxic stress and feelings of being overwhelmed that comes with these very difficult times.  Services include:

• Food distribution 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month
• Online therapy support classes
• Online yoga & dance
• Monthly forums and healing circles

The Healing Center is located at 11833 South Wilmington Ave. For more information call, 323-568-8100.

“When we look at these numbers each day, we know that so many across the county are experiencing profound grief because they have lost a loved one or friend to COVID-19.  Our hearts go out to you at this very difficult time,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “As with all activities we do through the pandemic, it is always best to plan early and try to take the maximum amount of precautions. We are less than a month away from election day and we’re really lucky to take advantage of the fact that everyone gets a ballot by mail to fill out in the privacy of their own home and send in at no cost. This is one of the safest ways to cast your vote this November. If you prefer or need to go and vote at a voting site, the County voting sites will be implementing protocols to create as much safety as possible for voters and poll workers. If you’re a person with an underlying health condition, this is the time to think through how to reduce the risk to yourself and minimize your exposures by either using that mail-in ballot or going to one of the voting sites at a time when it’s not crowded.”

Public Health has updated the Health Officer Order to allow for outdoor dining at non-restaurant breweries and wineries serving a meal as long as the business follows all requirements for infection control and distancing that are detailed in our protocol.  Indoor shopping malls are allowed to reopen today with occupancy limited to 25% capacity, and with all food courts and all common areas closed.

Of the 30 new deaths reported today, nine people that passed away were over the age of 80 years old, 11 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. Eighteen people who died had underlying health conditions including seven people over the age of 80, seven people between the ages of 65 and 79 years old, and four people between the ages of 50 and 64 years old. Two deaths were reported by the City of Pasadena and 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 6,316 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, 56 cases and two deaths reported earlier were not L.A. County residents.

Testing results are available for more than 2,755,000 individuals with 9% 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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