COVID-19 cases slowly rise in LA County

Angels — Los Angeles County As the county’s infection rate continued to increase surprisingly over the past few days, 644 new cases of COVID-19 and 7 additional deaths were reported on Saturday.

According to state statistics, COVID-19 hospitalizations increased from 275 to 278 on Friday, and the number of COVID patients in ICU units in the county decreased from 72 to 70.

According to the Los Angeles County Public Health Service, Saturday figures have resulted in a total of 1,251,848 cases and 24,498 deaths in the county since the pandemic began.

Health officials say the recent increase is driven by an increase in COVID-19 mutants, especially the more contagious delta mutants. They are at sufficient risk for Delta variants to pose a significant threat, as 4 million residents in LA County have not yet been vaccinated and have tripled cases in the past week. I added.

Relation: Local doctors discuss delta variants worried about CDC

This variant is believed to be responsible for more than 26% of current COVID infections in the United States and is also responsible for the prevalence of infections in parts of India and the United Kingdom.

New data confirm that fully vaccinated people are well protected from severe infections with delta mutants, but those with only one vaccine are not well protected. , A very small number of fully vaccinated individuals can be infected,
The department said it could infect others.

Relation: LA County Public Health strongly recommends masking indoors amid concerns about delta variants

“We are grateful for the great progress we have made over the past year, but we are not yet out of the woods,” said Barbara Ferrer, director of the county’s public health department. Take wise precautions to prevent the transmission of the virus, especially if you are gathering with unvaccinated individuals or children. If you have not been vaccinated, other public health precautions have been lifted and you should consider getting vaccinated now for increased protection. Talk to your vaccinated friends and loved ones and ask about their experiences.Vaccines provide us with the best tools to end this pandemic
It has plagued us for months. “

On Friday, the department said the moving average of people testing positive for the virus was increasing, but it’s still very low at just 1.3%. This is up from 1.2% on Thursday, but four times the 0.3% rate reported by the county in early June.

Health officials have been closely monitoring the steadily rising number of cases and test positive rates since most COVID health restrictions were lifted on June 15. Nationwide.

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According to Feller, 245 cases of Delta variants were identified in the county on Thursday, almost double the number last week.The county is conducting the limited sequence tests needed to identify variants, so it is not possible to estimate numbers across the population, but Delta
The most predominant subspecies detected in the county.

The county has received more than 10.4 million COVID-19 vaccines. According to the latest figures, 59% of residents over the age of 16 are fully vaccinated and 68% are vaccinated at least once.The number of elderly people is high, and 76% of people over the age of 65 are completely
87% with vaccination and at least one dose.

Relation: Delta variant detected in Long Beach, according to the Department of Health

The county continues to provide incentives in the hope of encouraging more people to be vaccinated. From Friday to next Thursday, anyone vaccinated at the county, the city of Los Angeles, or a site operated by the St. John’s Well Child and Family Center,
Chance to win one of four ticket packages: Huntington Library, Descanso Gardens, Los Angeles County Arboretum, and South Coast Botanical Gardens. The package includes Huntington’s annual membership and a one-day pass to other facilities.

In Orange County, health officials confirmed another 74 COVID infections on Friday, a cumulative increase to 256,445. Another death was also reported, increasing the county death to 5,123.

The number of people admitted to COVID in Orange County decreased from 70 on Thursday to 63 on Friday, 12 of whom were admitted to the ICU. OC personnel no longer update their daily case numbers over the weekend.