18,822 New Positive Cases and 36 New Deaths Due to COVID-19 in Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES, CA, Jan 25 – Several LA County COVID-19 metrics are showing decline, including daily cases, daily case rate, positivity rate, and hospitalizations. Although these declines are a positive sign, residents should not take them as an indication to forgo common sense protective measures that will allow these declines to continue. Utilizing public health safety measures will drive down cases, which will ultimately end staffing shortages, reduce workplace and school outbreaks, and most importantly, keep residents from getting seriously ill and dying.

Two weeks ago on January 11th, LA County reported 34,827 new cases, two days after seeing the highest number of new cases since the pandemic began. Public Health is reporting 18,822 new cases today. While this is still a high number of cases, it represents a 46% drop in new cases in two weeks. Over the same time period, the daily rate of cases per 100,000 residents also decreased by 20% and the daily positivity rate decreased by 30%.

Additionally, the number of residents getting seriously ill and needing hospitalization has also begun to decline. As hospitalizations lag cases, the number of people hospitalized peaked on January 20th at 4,814 and have slowly declined since, with 4,554 people currently hospitalized. While this decline is small and just beginning, we are hopeful with a reduced number of cases, the number of people hospitalized will continue to go down.

It is also important to recognize that while these declines are cause for hopefulness, the number of people dying from COVID-19 is unfortunately increasing, as deaths typically lag increases in cases and hospitalizations. Over the past two weeks, deaths have increased by 140% from 15 deaths reported on January 11th to 36 deaths reported today. Sadly, the number of people dying is expected to continue to increase for the next several weeks.

“I know so many are mourning the loss of a loved one and I send my heartfelt condolences and wishes for healing,” said Dr. Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “While we are finally turning a corner on this surge, we will need to remain cautious in order to reduce transmission to a low enough level that it poses less risk for those most vulnerable and less risk for our recovery journey. We are in a different place today because we have more effective tools for managing transmission, and these tools allow us to use different strategies for getting through this surge. Even during the surge, it’s been possible to continue many of our customary activities if we layer in all of the protections now available and take personal responsibility for recognizing our role in reducing transmission, protecting those we love, and protecting those most vulnerable.”

Today, Public Health confirmed 36 additional deaths and 18,822 new cases of COVID-19. Of the 27 new deaths reported today, one person was between the ages of 18 and 29, three people were between the ages of 30 and 49, four were between the ages of 50 and 64, eight were between the ages of 65-79, and 15 were over the age of 80 years old. Of the 36 newly reported deaths, 25 had underlying conditions. Information on the five deaths reported by the City of Long Beach is available at www.LongBeach.gov To date, the total number of deaths in L.A. County is 28,540.

Public Health has identified a total 2,540,075 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County. Today’s positivity rate is 13.8%.

There are 4,554 people with COVID-19 currently hospitalized. Testing results are available for more than 10,928,600 individuals, with 21% of people testing positive.