Schools Reopen with Significant Safety; Public Health Advocates Increasing Vaccination Rates to Avoid Future Surges

29 New Deaths and 1,147 New Confirmed Cases of COVID-19 in Los Angeles County

COVID-19 school cases among students and staff are declining. In August, student cases increased from about 1,300 to a peak of nearly 2,800 cases the week ending August 22. The number of student close contacts – students identified as a close contact with a confirmed case – increased correspondingly to a peak of nearly 11,000 by the end of August. Since then, both student cases and contacts have decreased substantially; last week, the County saw about 530 student cases and nearly 2,800 student close contacts. Meanwhile, staff numbers have also decreased weekly from their high point of 452 staff cases and 498 staff close contacts in mid-August: last week, there were only 77 staff cases and 19 staff close contacts.

These downward trends are the consequence of the hard work of school administrators, teachers, and staff to implement vaccinations, masking, student cohorting, seating charts, and other preventive strategies, adding new layers of quality improvement to their workdays at everyone’s great effort. These improvements would not have been possible without the support of the parents, students and broader school communities who helped schools implement these safety measures.

Today, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) confirms 29 new deaths and 1,147 new cases of COVID-19. Of the 29 new deaths reported today, six people who 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, and five people who died were between the ages of 30 and 49.  Two deaths were reported by the City of Pasadena and one death was reported by the City of Long Beach.

To date, Public Health identified 1,456,275 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County and a total of 26,047 deaths. As of September 20, the County is tragically seeing about 15 deaths a day, a 38% decline from the month earlier.

There are 908 people with COVID-19 currently hospitalized and 31% of these people are in the ICU. This is a decrease of 126 daily hospitalizations over the prior week.

As of September 11, unvaccinated adults 50 and over were more than 16 times more likely to be hospitalized than vaccinated adults over 50. Hospitalizations in younger unvaccinated adults between 18 to 49 years old were 29 times higher than hospitalization rates for vaccinated residents 18 to 49 years old.

Testing results are available for nearly 8,600,000 individuals with 16% of people testing positive. Today’s test positivity rate is 1.1%, a decrease from last week’s same-day rate of 1.4%.

Public Health is focused on increasing vaccination rates quickly to avoid future surges of cases. It is still most important to increase the numbers of first dose recipients; the only way to get to community immunity is to get more people vaccinated who have not yet received their first dose.

“We grieve alongside everyone who has suffered the loss of friends and families during this extraordinarily difficult time. Our prayers and hearts are with you,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “I stress the importance of getting ahead of future surges. It is not inevitable that we continue to experience these cycles of scary increases in cases. The entire premise of community immunity is to get enough people vaccinated to leave little room for virus transmission.  To accomplish this, we each need to think about our own role differently. We are living during a raging, worldwide, deadly pandemic that can be most quickly ended with very high rates of vaccination coverage. These times ask each of us to step up to protect the health and the lives of our co-workers, neighbors, and those most vulnerable.  My hope is that those who are being asked to get vaccinated now take to heart this opportunity to get us to the end of the pandemic.”

As of September 23, 92% of L.A. County residents 65 and over have received at least one dose of the vaccine, 78% of residents 16 and over and 77% of residents 12 and over. Sixty-nine percent of residents 12 and over have been fully vaccinated. Sixty-seven percent of L.A. County teens between the ages of 12 and 17 received at least one dose and 58% are fully vaccinated. Out of the nearly 10.3 million L.A. County residents, including those who are not yet eligible for the vaccine, 66% have received at least one dose, and 59% are fully vaccinated.

Last Friday, September 24, the County began administering booster doses as well as the additional doses administered to immunocompromised people.  Although the numbers are not yet complete, Public Health received reports that nearly 14,500 boosters or additional doses were administered between September 24 and September 26. Countywide, nearly 92,000 additional/booster doses have been administered by L.A. County providers.

L.A. County continues to offer vaccines at more than 1,300 sites countywide and through the deployment of more than 400 mobile vaccination teams each week to make it as easy as possible for eligible L.A. County residents to get vaccinated. Over 700 fixed sites and almost all mobile team sites offer Pfizer vaccines, including first, second and third doses.

Vaccinations are always free and open to eligible residents and workers regardless of immigration status. Anyone 12 and older living or working in L.A. County can get vaccinated. Boosters are available for eligible individuals at all sites offering the Pfizer vaccine. Appointments are not needed at all Public Health vaccination sites where first, second, and third doses are available.

Los Angeles County residents eligible for a booster dose of Pfizer include the following groups of people who received the second of the two-dose Pfizer vaccine series at least 6 months ago and are either:

• People aged 65 years or older
• Residents of long-term care facilities
• People aged 18 to 64 years with underlying medical conditions
• People aged 18 to 64 years with high institutional or occupational risk, including healthcare workers, first responders, teachers and day care staff, grocery workers, and workers and residents in homeless shelters or prisons, among others

While you don’t need an appointment at many places to get a first, second or third dose, it is very easy to make an appointment. You can go to MyTurn or to www.VaccinateLACounty.com to make an appointment.

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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