5 Things You Should Know About This Week’s COVID-19

There is a contradiction regarding the situation of COVID-19 in Los Angeles County. The situation changes rapidly.Therefore, every week in Crosstown Important things you need to know About the pandemic. For additional information on incidents in individual regions, please see Crosstown coronavirus interactive map..

1) The death toll is increasing

For many months, the death toll from COVID-19 was relatively low. The combination of low infection rates and vaccines that work to prevent serious illness and death kept the 7-day average in the single digits on a regular basis. During the week of June 15-21, only 36 people in the county died of the coronavirus.

The execution is finished. Eighteen COVID-19s died last Friday and 98 died between July 6th and 12th. This is literally twice as much as it was a month ago.

This is painful, but not surprising. Like hospitalization, death is an indicator of delay and usually increases about a month after the number of cases increases. In this example, the actual number of deaths remained much lower, even after the cases began to increase.

If the current surge is the same as the past surge, the number of deaths will continue to increase and will remain increasing for the coming weeks or months.

[Get COVID-19, crime and other stats about where you live with the Crosstown Neighborhood Newsletter]

2) More infectious diseases

Omicron subvariants continue to increase the number of cases. On Saturday, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health reported 8,349 infections, the highest daily total since February 5.

From July 6th to 12th, 39,939 new COVID-19 cases occurred. This is an increase of 7.1% from the previous week.

3) And more aggressive

Drum beats are familiar. As the number of cases and deaths increases, so does the number of tests that return positive. The positive rate has been around 14% since July 5th.

It jumped to 16.3% on Wednesday, the highest positive rate since January 21st.

It is worth noting that the widespread use of home exams means that many cases are not reported, especially if the symptoms are minor. Therefore, it is difficult to reliably compare current numbers with past numbers.

4) Hospitalization reaches 4 digits

Hospitalization is an important indicator for understanding the impact of COVID-19 on the community. This is because the increase in patients can strain the healthcare system. Even if someone isn’t hospitalized with COVID-19 and turns out to be positive while hospitalized for other treatments, that means devoting extra resources to prevent infection. ..

On Wednesday, the Public Health Service reported 1,170 COVID-19 patients in a regional hospital. This is the highest number since February 23rd.

The average hospital stay for the last 7 days was 1,071. This shows an 87.6% increase from two weeks ago.

5) Would you like to mask again?

COVID-19 continues to be the leading cause of death in Los Angeles County. According to the Public Health Service, more than 4,300 people have died since January.

“This is above the average annual death toll from flu, colds, car deaths, and overdose,” a statement from one sector declared.

Studies have shown the effectiveness of wearing a high quality, fit mask to reduce COVID-19 infection. 2021 study We found that people who regularly wear breathing masks such as N95 and KN95 are 83% less likely to test positive than those who do not cover their face.

That type of protection may soon be needed, as Dr. Barbara Ferrer warns that the duty of a new indoor mask is imminent. The county has been around for a long time Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines As a “medium” COVID-19 level based on hospitalization and other indicators.The area is Expected to rise to “high” levels Today, and if the county stays in the zone for two weeks, indoor masking will be needed again.

That is, by July 29, county residents will need these face covers again.

How did you do it: Analyzed coronavirus data associated with new cases, deaths, hospitalizations and vaccinations. Los Angeles County Department of Public Health..

Are you interested in our data?Please check Crosstown coronavirus interactive map Or email [email protected]..