Unvaccinated and Partially Vaccinated People are Suffering Greater Illness, Hospitalization, and Death

LOS ANGELES, July 27 – Today, Public Health is reporting 15 new deaths and 2,067 new cases of COVID-19. Case rates are increasing across all adult age groups with the highest case rate increases occurring in adults between the ages of 18 and 29 years old with a nine-fold increase, from 40 to 350 cases per 100,000 over the course of the past month. And case rates have increased 7.5-fold among 30-to-49 year-olds, from 33 to 247 cases per 100,000.

There are 825 people with COVID -19 currently hospitalized. An increase in hospitalizations typically occurs two to three weeks after cases increase. Currently, 0.21% of positive cases are hospitalized; this is much lower than the 5.76% of cases hospitalized during the winter surge.

To date, Public Health has identified 1,287,831 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County and a total of 24,643 deaths. Testing results are available for over 7,270,000 individuals with 16% of people testing positive. Today’s daily test positivity rate is 5.7%.

Of the new deaths reported today, five people that passed away were over the age of 80, three people that passed away are between the ages of 65 and 79 years old, four people who passed away were between the ages of 50 and 64 years old and two people who died were between the ages of 30 and 49 years old. One death was reported by the City of Pasadena.

“For all the families, friends, and coworkers mourning the passing of a loved one to COVID-19, we wish you healing and peace,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “While it is critically important to pay attention to the rapid acceleration of cases we are currently seeing, most of which are a consequence of infection with the highly transmissible Delta variant, we should also note that this pandemic is now not behaving the same way that it was in the month before vaccines were widely available. During the winter surge last year, when case rates were increasing four- or five-fold over the course of a month, we saw hospitalizations multiplying in direct proportion to case rates. Today, even though our case rates have increased by up to nine times, hospitalization rates are, at most, doubling. Having half of our County population vaccinated is largely responsible for this positive trend. It’s because of the differences in trends that we are hopeful our hospitals and healthcare providers will not suffer the same strain they endured last winter.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) today updated its masking guidance in response to new science related to the Delta variant. In areas with substantial and high transmission, CDC recommends fully vaccinated people wear masks in public, indoor settings to help prevent the spread of the Delta variant and protect others. The agency is also recommending that everyone in grade schools wear masks indoors, including teachers, staff, students, and visitors, regardless of vaccination status.

L.A. County already requires masking indoors in all public settings and K-12 schools; with increased vaccinations and indoor masking, the County should be able to return to lower rates of transmission.

L.A. County has administered nearly 11 million total vaccine doses to residents 12 years and older, including more than 6 million first doses and nearly 4.9 million second doses. This means more than 6.1 million LA County residents have received one dose, and more than 5.3 million are fully vaccinated. Among County residents 12 and older, almost 70% have received at least one dose of vaccine, and 61% are fully vaccinated.

Now through Thursday, July 29 at County-run vaccination sites, LA City sites, and St. John’s Well Child and Family Center sites, everyone 18 and older coming to get a vaccine will have an opportunity to win one of seven packages of tickets to an array of concerts presented by AEG.