The number of coronavirus patients in Los Angeles County hospitals has dropped slightly today, from 1,226 to 1,218 for its 13th consecutive decline.
According to state figures, the number of patients in intensive care fell from 368 to 360.
The county does not report daily cases and deaths from COVID-19 on Saturday or Sunday, and officials say the health department will work on upgrades to its data processing systems. However, the data will still be collected and communicated earlier this week.
On Friday, the department reported 50 coronavirus-related deaths and 2,024 new cases of COVID-19, bringing the county’s total to 1,427,817 cases and 25,611 fatalities since the pandemic began.
However, officials also said Los Angeles County has experienced three consecutive weeks of declining weekly infection rates, an improvement the public health director attributed in part to masking mandates and slowly increasing the number of vaccinations.
According to the parameters set by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, transmission is considered in the “high” category if there are cumulatively 100 or more new cases per 100,000 residents over the course of a week. Much of the country is currently in the “high” transmission category.
The Los Angeles County rate, however, fell last week to 104 cases per 100,000, a “welcome” 35% from the previous week, said public health director Barbara Ferrer.
“This is the third week in a row that we are seeing a decrease in the case rate,” Ferrer said. “Overall, we saw a decrease of almost 50% from the maximum of 204 cases per 100,000 people on August 19. It is worth noting that the recent falls may reflect the masking requirements implemented at the beginning of the rise and the small increases in our vaccination coverage. “
“Other parts of the country that do not have masking requirements and do not have as much vaccination coverage have not seen these significant decreases in cases,” he said.
If the county rate continues to decline and falls below 100 new cases per 100,000 residents over a seven-day period, it could move into the CDC’s less substantial “substantial” transmission category.
But Ferrer warned that a reversal of fortune could still occur.
“While we welcome the declines, we anticipate that with an increase in routine screening tests and mixing in schools and workplaces, along with travel and Labor Day meetings, we face the risk that our cases may increase again, ”he said.
On October 11, wherever you want to go to West Hollywood, including restaurants, gyms, or lounges, you must prove that you are completely vaccinated. Robert Kovacik reports on NBC4 News at 11pm on September 10, 2021.
Ferrer also again lamented the slow pace of vaccinations in the county. He said last week only about 56,000 first doses were administered in the county.
“We’re making very little progress,” he said.
Ferrer expressed hope that immunization mandates such as those announced Thursday by the Los Angeles Unified School District for eligible students 12 years of age or older and by President Joe Biden for large corporate workers will have an impact.
Of the nearly 5.4 million people completely vaccinated in the county as of Sept. 7, 43,598 had tested positive, at a rate of 0.81%, he said. A total of 1,243 fully vaccinated people have been hospitalized, with a rate of 0.023% and 165 have died, with a rate of 0.0031%.
According to the latest figures, 75% of eligible county residents age 12 and older have received at least one dose of vaccine and 66% are fully vaccinated. Among the county’s overall population of 10.3 million, 65% have received a dose and 57% are fully vaccinated. This population figure includes approximately 1.3 million people under the age of 12 who are not eligible to be shot.
Black residents in the county continue to have the lowest vaccination rate, with 51% overall with at least one dose. Among black residents aged 12 to 15, only 35% have received at least one dose.
The average daily rate of people who tested positive for the virus in the county was 2.6% on Friday, slightly lower than the previous Friday.
Last week, the county announced that it had locally identified 167 cases of the Mu variant of COVID-19. But Ferrer said Friday that a lab reanalyzed samples from several months and determined that there were 232 cases of the Mu variant locally, along with 28 cases of the Lambda variant.
Although the Mu variant has raised eyebrows about concerns that vaccines could avoid, it has not yet reached the level of being considered a “variant of concern” by health officials. Ferrer said the Delta variant, highly infectious, remains the biggest threat, accounting for nearly 100% of all samples that undergo genetic sequencing to identify variants.