Los Angeles County is seeing a decline in COVID-19 cases, but the increase is not over yet

LOS ANGELES (KABC) – While the delta variant of COVID-19 continues to increase the number of infections, Los Angeles County has begun lowering case rates, but the director of public health on Thursday stopped saying the increase in the virus decreases.

“We are seeing a small drop in the seven-day average of cases, and last week we saw cases drop by about 15%,” public health director Barbara Ferrer told reporters during a weekly online briefing . “However, with an increase in routine screening tests over the next few weeks, I think our numbers will remain relatively high.”

Health officials say hospitals are filled with COVID patients who have not been vaccinated, most elderly and unvaccinated people who are 15 times more likely to end up hospitalized.

The increase in hospitalizations is slowing down a bit, but it is not enough.

“Deaths have also risen by about 6% over the past week, to a seven-day average of 18 deaths a day. This is reminiscent of the fact that the virus continues to cause serious, life-threatening illnesses among many infected,” he said. Ferrer.

“And the losses are frankly even more tragic, as almost all of them can be prevented with our extremely safe and widely available vaccines.”

The county reported another 31 deaths on Thursday, bringing the overall death toll from the pandemic to 25,181. Another 3,226 cases were also confirmed, for a total pandemic of 1,394,488.

A West Hollywood-based cancer doctor defends cases of masks and vaccines. Dr. James Berenson says that although his cancer patients have been vaccinated, vaccines are considerably less effective for most of them because of their treatments and the state of their immune system, leaving them unprotected against COVID.

Meanwhile, the number of COVID patients landing in hospitals is rising again nationwide. There are now more than 100,000 people hospitalized with COVID-19, the highest figure in seven months, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

When it comes to booster shots, experts recommend that people wait eight months after being completely vaccinated to get one. That is when the effectiveness of vaccines begins to decline.

The CDC advisory board is scheduled to meet next week to discuss official recommendations on reinforcement firing.

City News Service contributed to this report.