L.A. County Residents and Workers 16 and Older Now Eligible For COVID-19 Vaccine

23 New Deaths and 613 New Confirmed Cases of COVID-19 in Los Angeles County

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) has confirmed 23 new deaths and 613 new cases of COVID-19. To date, Public Health identified 1,227,514 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County and a total of 23,569 deaths.

Starting today, Thursday, April 15, anyone living or working in L.A. County 16 and older is eligible for COVID-19 vaccine and are able to schedule vaccination appointments on the MyTurn website. Youth 16 and 17 can only receive the Pfizer vaccine and need to sign up at a site that offers this vaccine.  Minors must be accompanied by a parent or guardian who can provide consent for vaccination.

To learn how to make an appointment, what verifications patients will need to show at your vaccination appointment, and much more, visit: www.VaccinateLACounty.com (English) and www.VacunateLosAngeles.com  (Spanish). Vaccinations are always free and open to eligible residents and workers regardless of immigration status. Moving forward, only Pfizer and Moderna will be offered at L.A. County vaccination sites until the FDA and the CDC have completed their review of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and recommend that providers can begin administering Johnson & Johnson vaccine again.

Of the 23 new deaths reported today, four people that passed away were over the age of 80, nine people who died were between the ages of 65 and 79, six people who died were between the ages of 50 and 64, two people who died were between the ages of 30 and 49, and one person who died was between the ages of 18 and 29. One death was reported by the City of Long Beach.

“We send our deepest sympathies to those who are grieving the loss of a loved one to COVID-19,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “We have reached a good place and time when every Los Angeles County resident or worker 16 years old and older is eligible to get vaccinated. Given additional re-openings and increased activities where large numbers of people are intermingling, vaccines provide very powerful protection that help us reduce community transmission, hospitalizations, and deaths from COVID-19.  The pause on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine demonstrates that our vaccine safety program works to continuously monitor new vaccines as use becomes more widespread.  We can be confident that the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, both of which have been available to the public for five months and administered to well over 150 million people across the country, are safe for us to continue to use, especially when compared to the risks of getting sick and dying from COVID-19. Please make an appointment to get your vaccine if you are newly eligible and talk with your healthcare provider if you have questions or concerns about getting vaccinated.”

There are 518 people with COVID-19 currently hospitalized and 24% of these people are in the ICU. Testing results are available for nearly 6,251,000 individuals with 18% of people testing positive. Today’s daily test positivity rate is 1.1%.

The number of COVID-19 cases among people experiencing homelessness dropped from the peak of 672 weekly cases reported during late-December to 117 new cases reported this week. The number of new cases reported this week includes 58 cases from previous weeks that were newly identified as cases associated with people experiencing homelessness and were included in the new case totals. To date, Public Health has identified 6,994 cases among people experiencing homelessness. Cumulative case totals are lower due to ongoing quality assurance reviews. Cases previously reported as COVID-19 cases among people experiencing homelessness were re-classified after further investigation and review.  A total of 205 people who were experiencing homelessness have passed away from COVID-19.  Of the people experiencing homelessness who passed away, 93 were sheltered, 67 were unsheltered, and for 45 people who passed away, their shelter status was unknown.

There are 121 providers reporting they are administering vaccinations to people experiencing homelessness. This is approximately double the organizations compared to the previous week. Currently, 13,621 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to people experiencing homelessness across Los Angeles County. Of those vaccinated, at least 1,907 people received second doses. The County continues working with partner organizations to vaccinate, reduce virus transmission, and protect people experiencing homelessness from COVID-19 infection.

County Reopening Protocols, COVID-19 Surveillance Interactive Dashboard, Roadmap to Recovery, Recovery Dashboard, and additional actions you can take to protect yourself, your family and your community are on the Public Health website, www.publichealth.lacounty.gov.

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