One in every 140 people in the county has the virus and is infectious, say LA County health officials
By Sam Catanzaro
Los Angeles County has surpassed 100,000 cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) as health officials reported the highest single one-day case count since the pandemic began and say that one in every 140 people in the county has the virus and is infectious.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) said on Monday that it “continues to see alarming trends of community spread” as it announced 2,903 new cases and 22 new deaths of COVID-19, the single largest one-day case count since the pandemic began.
According to Public Health, key metrics continue to show steep increases in community spread. The seven-day average of daily reported new cases of COVID-19 is nearly 2,000, an increase from the 1,379 average two weeks ago. In addition, there are 1,710 people currently hospitalized, higher than the 1,350 to 1,450 daily hospitalizations seen in recent weeks.
“The alarming increases in cases, positivity rates and hospitalizations signals that we, as a community, need to take immediate action to slow the spread of COVID-19. Otherwise, we are quickly moving toward overwhelming our healthcare system and seeing even more devastating illness and death,” said Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer.
County health officials added that if steps are not taken to improve hospital capacity, L.A. County will likely run out of beds in the next two weeks and ICU beds next week. Officials noted that LA county has sufficient ventilators to meet the anticipated need for the next month.
Over 1 million people have been tested for COVID-19 in Los Angeles County, with 9 percent of people testing positive. According to Public Health, the cumulative positivity rate has increased from 8 percent to 9 percent, and the seven-day average of the daily positivity rate has increased from the lowest daily rate of 4.6 percent positivity in late May to 8.4 percent today.
Health officials estimate that one in every 140 people in LA County is infected with COVID-19 and is infectious to others, not including individuals who are hospitalized, quarantined or isolated.
As of Monday, Public Health has identified 100,772 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of LA County, and a total of 3,326 deaths. In Santa Monica, there have been 401 cases and 29 deaths among residents.
The announcement of the record case numbers come a day after California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered bars in Los Angeles County to close. According to county health officials, almost half of bars and 33 percent of the restaurants inspected over the weekend were not following social distancing rules and employees were not wearing masks or face shields at 54 percent of the bars and 44 percent of the restaurants.
