Los Angeles County: Young people are leading the rise in COVID-19 infection rates.Most likely to be severe if unvaccinated

According to the latest data, the daily number of COVID-19 cases reported in LA County continues to grow, with younger residents most likely to be infected and unvaccinated residents likely to become seriously ill. There is a new warning that is the highest.

Barbara Ferrer, Director of Public Health, LA County, reported on Thursday 3,407 new COVID-19 infections and nine new virus-related deaths. She said the average daily number of new cases recorded in the past week has increased to more than 2,600, an increase of almost 20% from a week ago.

The county’s transmission rate continues to rise, with an average daily incidence of 26 per 100,000 inhabitants, up from 21 just a week ago.

More notably, the 7-day cumulative rate reached 176 per 100,000 inhabitants.

When that number exceeds 200 per 100,000 inhabitants, LA County moves from low infection rates to moderate levels as defined by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Continued increases can lead to re-enforcement of public health rules such as wearing indoor masks.

However, the increase in case rates has not yet led to the normally expected increase in virus-related hospitalizations or deaths. These numbers have been relatively flat for the past few weeks, but the number of cases has skyrocketed.

The county averages about four virus-related deaths per day, Feller said. The number of COVID-positive patients in county hospitals is also stable, well below 300 per day.

As of Thursday, the county hospital had 267 virus-positive patients, up from 249 on Wednesday. The number of patients receiving treatment in the intensive care unit has increased from 24 the day before to 25.

Feller said hospitalization was due to a variety of factors, including widespread vaccination, innate immunity from previous infections, and the availability of treatments aimed at knocking down the infection before it develops into a serious illness. He said it was likely hindering the increase in deaths.

However, she said another factor was the relatively low infection rate among the most vulnerable age groups to the development of serious illnesses due to COVID-19.

Currently, residents over the age of 80 have the lowest COVID-19 infection rates in the county, followed by children under the age of 5, followed by adults aged 65-79 and adults aged 50-64.

Read more: As booster rates lag behind, analysis shows an increase in the number of deaths in vaccinated people

Currently, the group with the highest infection rate is 12 to 17 years old, in the order of 18 to 29 years old and 30 to 49 years old.

Feller reiterates the increased risk faced by unvaccinated residents, who are five times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 and more likely to die than vaccinated residents16. He said it was twice as expensive.

She also noted a recent study that prevented more than 1.5 million infections in California during the first 10 months of vaccination availability, preventing 72,000 hospitalizations and 19,000 deaths.

Feller began a weekly briefing on Thursday from the moment of silence, admitting that the United States has reached the harsh milestone of one million deaths from COVID-19.

“It shows the very sad reality of losing millions of people around the world with this dangerous virus, so in this uncertain era, move forward with courage, courage and compassion, and the tools at hand. I wish I could take care of myself as well as myself, and the people we love, but the people we know, are the most vulnerable to suffering from this virus, “Feller said. ..

A new case reported Thursday gave the county a cumulative total of up to 2,903,779 from the entire pandemic. Nine new deaths resulted in 32,016 virus-related deaths throughout the county.

The average daily rate of virus-positive people in the county was 2.6% as of Thursday, a slight increase from 2.4% on Wednesday.

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