COVID variants continue to spread in LA County, even among vaccinated residents – Daily Bulletin

A constant surge in COVID-19 cases continued in Los Angeles County on Thursday, July 22, with an additional 2,700 cases reported, steadily increasing the rate of infection among fully vaccinated residents. ..

In fact, during June, 20% of all newly reported COVID infections in the county occurred among fully vaccinated people. This increased from 11% in May and 5% in April. However, public health director Barbara Ferrer said the increase is normal given the ever-increasing number of people who are fully vaccinated.

She also emphasized that infected, fully vaccinated people generally have very mild cases — the benefits that the vaccine has always promised.

“Very few of them were hospitalized and a few died,” Feller said. “Yes, there are many precautions if fully vaccinated. This is always the best vaccine. It protects people from serious illness and death. And these vaccines , Even with the “Delta” mutant, it holds up very well. “

She said that the fact that fully vaccinated people are still infected should not be considered ineffective shots and should be used as an excuse to avoid people getting shots. Said not.

“Seat belts don’t prevent all the bad things that can happen in a car accident, but they provide excellent protection, so we all use them on a daily basis,” she said. “It doesn’t really make sense not to use a seatbelt just because you can’t prevent all the injuries caused by a car accident. Rejecting a COVID vaccine just because it doesn’t provide 100% protection is a vaccine. We really ignore the powerful benefits we have experienced from the vaccinated people. “

She said that when the vaccination program began, the main benefit cited was the ability to prevent people from being hospitalized or dying from the virus. Increasing infections have been seen in the county (the majority of unvaccinated people), and infections are expected to occur among those who have had seizures. And she said that without the vaccine, the number of infections would be much higher.

“When we got into this, the vaccine really promised to prevent illness and death, and there was a big question mark about how much it would prevent fully vaccinated people from getting the virus.” Feller said. “… there is still more protection compared to those who are completely vaccinated, especially those who are not vaccinated at all because they are not vaccinated.”

People admitted to the county for COVID from 645 on Wednesday.

According to the county, of the approximately 4.85 million people who were fully vaccinated between January 19 and Tuesday, 6,520 were virus-positive at a rate of 0.13%. This is up from 0.09% last week.

Of the fully vaccinated people who tested positive during that period, only 287 were hospitalized, up 0.0059% of the vaccinated population from 0.0045% last week. Thirty vaccinated people died, accounting for 0.0006%.

The latest figures provided by the county on Thursday show that 5.3 million of the county’s approximately 10.3 million inhabitants are fully vaccinated, accounting for about 52%. Approximately 1.3 million counties are under the age of 12 and are not eligible for shooting.

The county reported 2,767 new COVID infections on Thursday. This is the maximum number per day since February. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the new incident has raised the county’s cumulative total to 1,276,137. The number of daily cases exceeded 1,000 for 14 consecutive days.

An additional 13 deaths were reported, increasing the total death toll to 24,607.

According to state statistics, 655 people were admitted to the county for COVID, up from 645 on Wednesday. The number of people in the intensive care unit increased from 140 the day before to 148.

The average daily rate of people who tested positive for the virus on Thursday increased slightly to 5.26%, compared to 5.2% the day before. The percentage one month ago was 0.7%.

Health officials have pointed out the highly infectious “Delta” strain of COVID-19 head-on for the recent surge in cases in rural and national areas. The first subspecies detected in India have increased prevalence throughout the state and currently account for the majority of the confirmed subspecies in the county.