Los Angeles County reported Saturday 813 new cases of COVID-19 and 37 additional deaths, along with 11 additional cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C).
The number of coronavirus patients in county hospitals dropped from 508 to 492, according to state figures, which are usually one day ahead of the figures provided by the county. The number of patients with COVID in intensive care increased from 123 to 125.
Saturday’s figures brought county totals to 1,225,256 cases and 23,467 fatalities since the pandemic began, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.
New MIS-C cases brought this total to 169 cases in the county, including the death of a child. All 169 were hospitalized and 39% of the children were treated in the ICU. Of the children with MIS-C, 26% were under 5 years old, 31% were between 5 and 9, 27% were between 10 and 14 and 16% were between 15 and 20. Latin and Latino children represent 75 % of reported cases. SIS-C is a serious inflammatory condition associated with COVID-19 that affects children under 21 years of age. Symptoms include fever that does not go away and inflamed parts of the body, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs. Parents who believe that their child has MIS-C symptoms should be advised to contact their primary care physician or urgent care provider.
“While we are making tremendous progress with the spread of COVID-19 in our county, there is also great sadness,” said public health director Barbara Ferrer. “… April is a critical month in our recovery from the COVID-19 trip. Over the past few weeks, businesses and public spaces have reopened and there have been many more people in and around With increased contact between non-household members, there are many more opportunities for COVID-19 transmission, especially if public health guidelines are not followed.As we are seeing in many other states, if we cannot find in ourselves to follow safety precautions, including facial expressions and distancing when we are around others, endangering our ability to move forward on the recovery journey. ”
Meanwhile, with COVID-19 vaccine eligibility to be extended Thursday to all over-16s, Los Angeles County will see a decline in dose supply due to what is expected to be a temporary deficit of availability of single dose of Johnson & Johnson Features.
But while the decline in county-controlled supply is worrisome (and short-lived), it is still expected that approximately half a million doses will be available in the county, thanks to other city and non-county providers receiving direct allocations. of state and federal governments.
“Altogether, we estimate that more than 500,000 doses of vaccine will be allocated to vaccination sites across the county next week,” Dr. Paul Simon, head of science at the county health department.
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“Now that we have extended the requirements for vaccination to all adults 50 years and older and will soon extend all adults and teens to 16 from April 15, I want to urge all employers to give your employees to be vaccinated “. “We expect a rush for appointments in the coming weeks and employees will need as much flexibility as possible to navigate this process and get their vaccines as soon as possible.”
The county’s vaccine allocation for next week is expected to amount to 323,470, Simon said. This is a drop of approximately 74,000 doses compared to this week, with the reduction due to a significant drop in the availability of the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine. The county received about 97,000 doses of this vaccine this week, but will only receive about 20,000 next week.
Simon said county Pfizer and Moderna vaccine allocations will increase, but not enough to offset Johnson & Johnson’s decline. He said he is confident Johnson & Johnson’s supply will recover in the coming weeks, and overall the county is on track to vaccinate much of the adult population in early summer.
“At the pace we’re going, we’ll be able to get where we want to be by the end of June, as long as people keep running for a vaccine,” Simon said. “… But over a period of several weeks as things open up – and we’ve seen it in the past as other groups became eligible – there’s this rush over a period of one or two weeks, and there is no avoiding it.
“So I think we will urge the public to be patient, but we are confident that we will be able to meet everyone’s needs over the next few weeks,” he said.
LA County will see a decline in vaccine supply as California prepares to extend eligibility to people 16 and older. Officials work to ensure equitable distribution. On Saturday a pilot clinic will vaccinate 1,000 people. Christine Kim reports on NBC4 News on Saturday, April 10, 2021.
Simon also noted that when everyone 16 and older becomes eligible, it creates one more challenge for people who have less access to online dating sites, as a wider portion of the population with greater access on the computer deletes them.
“We are quite concerned about this opening of eligibility … that those with fewer resources, less ability to browse these online dating systems or waiting in line for our call line will have more difficulty getting appointments,” he said. to say. And that could have the unfortunate consequence of making these disparities worse … And so we will be working very, very hard to make sure we work with the community organizations that serve these communities to make it a little easier for them. to get appointments “.
As of April 4, a total of 4,715,894 vaccine doses have been administered in the county, including 1,652,149 seconds. Simon noted that the number represented an increase of 702,000 over the previous nine days, an average of about 78,000 doses administered daily during this period.