Los Angeles County has made continuous progress on COVID-19, but the virus still attacks the most colored communities

Los Angeles County continues to make steady progress in fighting COVID-19, but the virus is still the hardest hit on the color community, health officials said Wednesday.

Mortality and case rates have fallen in all racial groups, but Latino, black, and Pacific Islander residents continue to have the highest of these rates. It remains on the state watch list because the county watch list does not fall below 100 cases per 100,000. This is the level required by state health authorities to reopen some of the economies that have been closed for months.

LA has already met five of the six criteria the state needs to reopen.

However, Governor Gavin Newtham announced Wednesday that California would draft a new set of standards for the county to resume. He did not specify whether the new standards announced next week would be more or less stringent.

According to the Department of Public Health, a total of 225,827 cases of virus have been reported in LA County, killing 5,392 patients. Barbara Ferrer, Health Director, said this included an additional 61 deaths and 1,956 confirmed cases on Wednesday, including 100 untreated states.

The county has opened more test centers in Boyle Heights, Azusa, and other areas considered high risk for infection rates and demographics. This was acknowledged by health officials on Wednesday, along with more health checks in the workplace, by lowering case rates between black and brown residents and high poverty communities.

Civil servants and health professionals have found that the high mortality and infection rates in some communities are due to the large number of people working in low wage jobs in essential industries, sometimes with little protection, within these groups. I widely believe that there is.

The case rate remains too high to reopen LA, but this month it has dropped significantly. In 10 days this week, Ferrer said, from 335 cases per 100,000 to 245 cases per 100,000.

“In just 10 days, that’s a pretty decent progress for us,” Ferrer said. “But we stay on the county state watch list until our rate falls below 100 cases.”

On July 21, Latin American cases surged to 194 cases per 100,000, with fewer than 50 cases per 100,000 in white and Asian residents, according to county data. For black residents, the incidence was 50 to less than 100 per 100,000 throughout July.

However, this month the case rates for Latino and black populations fell along with other racial groups.

According to the latest data available as of August 9, the Latin case rate was 91 cases per 100,000, half of what it was three weeks ago. For black residents, the incidence was 38 per 100,000.

Although these plunges took less than a month, the number of cases is much higher than the rate of 28 cases per 100,000 Caucasian residents, more than three times the current rate of Latin Americans. Health officials have attributed the difference in the effects of the virus to different racial groups to the large number of black and brown residents who perform important jobs.

Communities with the highest levels of poverty continue to maintain the highest case and mortality rates, health officials said.

“The case rate of people living in the most resource-poor regions of the county is more than double that of those living in the regions with the lowest levels of poverty,” Ferrer said.

Despite overall declines, hospitalization and mortality rates are still among the highest in colored communities, according to county data. When the case and mortality rates soared last month, these rates were the highest for the Latino community.

“The Latino population is dying at a much higher rate than other groups,” Ferrer said. “One factor that has contributed to this inequality we have seen over time is that it became very prominent in July. Latin Americans and blacks are among the most important industries. Most likely I was working.”

Communities and mortality rates are higher in communities with the highest poverty rates. Health authorities are attributed to the large number of people working in essential industries at high risk of getting the virus.

Further analysis of racial and ethnic data reveals the highest mortality, number of cases and hospitalization among Pacific Islanders. Mortality in this group was 92 per 100,000, with the second highest Latin American population at 74, black residents 56, Native American/Alaskan 45, Asian 38, and white. There were 27 people.

According to Ferrer, the hospitalization rate and number of cases have plummeted over the last few weeks, so the “gap” between mortality and cases among race groups has narrowed slightly.

Meanwhile, Ferrer said health officials are now focusing on reducing the overall number of cases to less than 200,000 per 100,000 to participate in a state exemption program for classroom instruction. ..

“That’s our number one priority right now. Please lower the rate so you can actually start running the exemption program,” Ferrer said.

Students in the LA Integrated School District return to school again this week with restrictions on online classes and so-called distance learning.