Vaccinations Keep COVID-19 Cases Among Healthcare Workers Low

11 New Deaths and 205 New Confirmed Cases of COVID-19 in Los Angeles County

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) has confirmed 11 new deaths and 205 new cases of COVID-19.  Of the 11 new deaths reported today, four people that passed away were over the age of 80, four people who died were between the ages of 65 and 79, and one person who died was between the ages of 30 and 49. Two deaths were reported by the City of Long Beach.

To date, Public Health identified 1,239,280 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County and a total of 24,194 deaths.

There are 319 people with COVID-19 currently hospitalized and 21% of these people are in the ICU. Testing results are available for more than 6,720,000 individuals with 17% of people testing positive. Today’s daily test positivity rate is 0.4%.

Healthcare workers were the first group in L.A. County to receive COVID-19 vaccinations in December 2020, and since then, COVID-19 cases among healthcare workers plummeted.  During the peak, the last week of December, there were nearly 2,000 new cases of COVID-19 among healthcare workers. Last week, there were only 24 new cases among healthcare workers reported across the entire county. Since March, the County has seen less than 50 new cases a week among healthcare workers.

To date, 265 healthcare workers have tragically passed away from COVID-19. At the peak of the surge, the week of January 3, 2021, 24 healthcare workers passed away.  In the past month, one healthcare worker has passed away from COVID-19.

Throughout the pandemic nursing facility staff have accounted for one-fourth of healthcare worker cases and fortunately, cases among nursing facility staff also dropped. The week of January 3, 2021 more than 1,100 nursing facility staff tested positive for COVID-19. For the week of May 8, a total of seven nursing facility staff tested positive for COVID-19. Currently, 82% of skilled nursing facility staff are fully vaccinated.

The low cases rate among healthcare workers at nursing homes and at all healthcare facilities reflects their high vaccination rates.

“To those mourning loved ones and friends who have passed away from COVID-19, I send my deepest sympathies,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “With summer and full re-openings around the corner, there will be increased risk for COVID-19 to spread among unvaccinated people. Millions of people are fully vaccinated, but millions are still not. While substantially lower than the peak, the suffering and deaths that continue to occur among unvaccinated people are, for the most part, preventable because the vaccine provides superior protection.  If you are already vaccinated, please encourage your friends and family that are not yet vaccinated, to get protected with the vaccine. Increasing the number of people vaccinated is the path to community immunity.”

COVID-19 vaccinations are available at County-run sites and many community sites without an appointment and many sites are open on weekends and have evening hours. Anyone 12 and older living or working in L.A. County can get vaccinated. Vaccinations are always free and open to eligible residents and workers regardless of immigration status.

Visit: www.VaccinateLACounty.com (English) and www.VacunateLosAngeles.com  (Spanish) to find a vaccination site near you, to make an appointment at vaccination sites, and much more. If you don’t have internet access, can’t use a computer, or you’re over 65, you can call 1-833-540-0473 for help finding an appointment, connecting to free transportation to and from a vaccination site, or scheduling a home-visit if you are homebound.

County Reopening Protocols, COVID-19 Vaccine Dashboard, 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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