889 New Positive Cases and 21 New Deaths Due to COVID-19 in Los Angeles County

LOS ANGELES, CA, Mar 25 – Today, LA Public Health reported 21 additional deaths, and 889 new positive cases of COVID-19. Of the 21 new deaths reported today, two people were between the ages of 30-49, four people were between the ages of 50-64, five were between the ages of 65-79, and nine were aged 80 years or older. Of the 21 newly reported deaths, 18 people had underlying health conditions. Information on the one death 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 31,576.

Public Health has reported a total of 2,829,091 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County. Note that 291 additional cases have been added to the cumulative total of positive cases due to a backlog of cases from the surge. Today’s positivity rate is 0.7%.

There are 350 people with COVID-19 currently hospitalized. Testing results are available for more than 11,651,000 individuals, with 22% of people testing positive.

With a more contagious COVID-19 subvariant increasingly circulating in Los Angeles County, expanding vaccination services to homebound residents is even more critical to ensure the County’s most vulnerable residents are protected. The County Department of Public Health (Public Health) is expanding its mobile vaccine outreach to assist residents who are unable to travel to a clinic or pharmacy.

Alongside the Public Health Mobile Vaccine Team, Public Health currently partners with six external mobile providers to reach homebound residents. Getting all eligible residents vaccinated, especially residents at elevated risk who are not able to travel to a vaccine site, is essential to preventing severe illness or death, as the vaccines provide the best protection from COVID-19. Unvaccinated residents are about 4 times more likely to be hospitalized for COVID-19 when compared to those who are fully vaccinated, but not boosted. When adding a booster dose, protection increased such that those who were vaccinated and boosted were 5 times less likely to be hospitalized than people who were unvaccinated.

Since March of last year, approximately 9,960 residents considered homebound were vaccinated in L.A. County. The number of residents in Los Angeles County who are homebound and unable to access vaccination services outside the home is estimated to be between 10,000-15,000. This estimate is based on an examination of medical claims data by several public and private health care plans in the county that was requested by Public Health.

For the week ending March 5, 2022, 102 homebound referrals were received by the Homebound Project. Of these, nearly 90% were vaccinated within two weeks and nearly 80% lived in under-resourced communities.

An additional 231 residents who were unable to travel to vaccination sites were also served by other providers for the same week ending March 5. Of these, more than 60% resided in under-resourced communities.

Also, this week, Public Health began contacting more than 1,000 social service agencies that work with seniors or the homebound and provided them with information on how to request homebound services for their clients and if they needed a mobile vaccine team. These efforts will continue for the next few weeks.