COVID-19 Outbreaks Continue in Correctional Facilities

27 New Deaths and 1,725 New Confirmed Cases of COVID-19 in Los Angeles County

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) is investigating 22 ongoing outbreaks in correctional and law enforcement settings; a slight increase from the 20 ongoing outbreaks in these settings reported a month ago on August 17. As of September 10, COVID-19 case counts associated with correctional facility outbreaks increased by 117 cases from the previous week when 176 new cases were reported.

To date, there have been 10,957 cases among people who are incarcerated and staff at correctional facilities. A total of 7,078 cases have been reported in county jail facilities (5,363 among people who are incarcerated and 1,715 among staff), 1,839 cases in state prison facilities (1,513 among people who are incarcerated and 326 among staff), 832 cases in the federal prison facilities (781 among people who are incarcerated and 51 among staff), and 728 cases in the juvenile facilities (265 among youth and 463 among staff).

To date, there have been 47 correctional facility deaths reported; 41 among people who were incarcerated and six among staff.

County, state and federal authorities continue to work to reduce the potential for outbreaks at prisons and jail facilities in Los Angeles County throughout the pandemic. Correctional facilities are required to verify the vaccination status of all workers and comply with respirator, masking, and testing mandates.

Today, Public Health confirms 27 new deaths and 1,725 new cases of COVID-19.  Of the 27 new deaths reported today, five people who passed away were over the age of 80, 10 people who died were between the ages of 65 and 79, nine people who died were between the ages of 50 and 64, and three people who died were between the ages of 30 and 49. To date, Public Health identified 1,435,163 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County and a total of 25,713 deaths.

There are 1,224 people with COVID-19 currently hospitalized and 30% of these people are in the ICU. Testing results are available for nearly 8,400,000 individuals with 16% of people testing positive. Today’s test positivity rate is 1.4%.

“Our deepest condolences go out to the families and friends mourning the loss of a loved one to COVID-19,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “With the highly transmissible Delta variant accounting for all COVID-19 strains recently sequenced in L.A. County and with a continued high level of spread over months now, it remains essential to mask up and get vaccinated if you are eligible. While both vaccinated and unvaccinated people can get infected, being unvaccinated increase your chances four fold of becoming infected, 10 fold of being hospitalized and more than 10 fold for dying. The vaccine continues doing its very important work of dramatically reducing illness and suffering from COVID among the people who are vaccinated. The struggle now is to get enough people vaccinated to break the cycle of high rates of transmission. We continue working with our partners to increase vaccinations, our most powerful tool for ending the pandemic.”

Public Health encourages everyone who is eligible to get vaccinated. Anyone 12 and older living or working in L.A. County can get vaccinated against COVID-19. Many vaccination sites across the county, including all the County-run sites, are also offering third doses of vaccine to eligible immunocompromised people. 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, 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.

COVID-19 Sector Protocols, Best Practices, COVID-19 Vaccine Dashboard, COVID-19 Surveillance Interactive Dashboard, 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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