6,129 New Positive Cases and 8 New Deaths Due to COVID-19 in Los Angeles County

(AMTV) LOS ANGELES, CA, June 24 – LA County remains at the medium community level on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) COVID-19 Community Level framework. The CDC Community Level framework contains three elements: the weekly cumulative case rate per 100,000 people, and two hospital metrics, the seven-day cumulative rate of COVID-19 hospital admissions, and the percentage of hospital beds occupied by COVID-19 patients.

This medium level is based on a very high case rate of 307 cases per 100,000 residents, well above the CDC’s 200 cases per 100,000 threshold for the low community level.

If the county continues its current rate of increase over the coming weeks, it may reach the COVID-19 hospital admission rate of 10 per 100,000 people threshold in mid-July, which is the high community level. However, the future hospitalization trend cannot be predicted with certainty. Hospitalizations could level off and begin to decline—this would be a great relief, or they could again begin to increase more rapidly. The data will need to be monitored closely.

If the county does move into the high level and remain there for two consecutive weeks, Public Health will implement a universal indoor masking requirement for everyone age 2 and older in LA County as a safety measure recommended by the CDC. If it were to be implemented, it would remain in effect until the county returns to the medium level for two consecutive weeks.

The county is also tracking seven of eight county Early Alert Signals. For the summer, school outbreaks will not be monitored since schools are closed. Five of the seven Early Alert county metrics Public Health is tracking continues to convey cause for medium or high concern.

LA County did move in a positive direction on several metrics. The case rate in low-income communities and the weekly number of outbreaks in Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs) both declined enough to move both metrics back down from high to medium concern. The number of outbreaks in settings for people experiencing homelessness (PEH) also decreased to move the county from medium to low concern.

The metrics for emergency department visits and worksite clusters both remain at medium concern, as they were last week. And the number of sewer systems with a two-fold increase in viral load continues to be in low concern.

The county’s hospital admission rate is at 7.3 per 100,000 people, unchanged from last week. The percentage of hospital beds occupied by COVID patients is at 3.6%, slightly up from 3.5% last week. If the county reaches 10 for either of these two metrics, it will move into the “high” community level.

As a reminder, alerts in any community-wide measure that reaches the threshold for medium or high concern will trigger an in-depth review of contributing factors and the possibility of modifications to community prevention strategies. Sector specific alerts that reach the threshold for medium or high concern will result in action steps outlined in the Priority Sector Response table above. Sectors must be in a lower concern level for at least two weeks before the additional mitigation strategies can be lifted.

“I send my deepest sympathies and wishes of peace and comfort to the many families who have lost a loved one from COVID-19,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “As we begin to enjoy the warm summer days with family and friends, taking steps every day to prevent the spread of COVID-19 will help us avoid hitting the CDC high community level threshold. With highly infectious variants and sub-lineages in LA County, it remains important to use all of our safety measures that work to reduce COVID-19 risk, including vaccinations, masking, moving activities outdoors, maximizing ventilation when indoors, and testing and staying home when sick. Every time you make the decision to wear a mask indoors, you are protecting yourself and all those around you, including essential workers and those most vulnerable. With summer holidays, camp and trips being planned, this is also an important time to make sure all members of your household are fully vaccinated and boosted.”

Today, Public Health reported eight additional deaths and 6,129 new positive cases. Of the eight new deaths reported today, one person was between the ages of 50-64, one person was between the ages of 65-79, and six people were aged 80 years or older. Of the eight newly reported deaths, all had underlying health conditions. To date, the total number of deaths in L.A. County is 32,291.

Public Health has reported a total of 3,088,482 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County. Today’s positivity rate is 11.3%.

There are 741 people with COVID-19 currently hospitalized. Testing results are available for more than 12,147,886 individuals, with 23% of people testing positive.