LA County Sees Lowest Number of New COVID-19 Deaths Since March Likely Due to Weekend Reporting Lag

The Los Angeles County Dept. of Public Health (Public Health) has confirmed one new death and 663 new cases of confirmed COVID-19. This is the lowest number of new deaths reported since March. However, Public Health cautions the decrease of new deaths and new cases reported today reflects, in part, a reporting lag from over the weekend.

To date, Public Health has identified 268,455 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of LA County, and a total of 6,515 deaths. Upon further investigation, nine cases reported earlier were not LA County residents.

People of all ages are at risk of being infected with COVID-19 and therefore at risk of becoming seriously ill.

There are 689 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 and 34% of these people are in the ICU. People under the age of 65 continue to make up an increasing proportion of people hospitalized with COVID-19 with nearly 70% of patients recently hospitalized. People between the ages of 18 and 29 years old represent the most significant increase in hospitalizations and now comprise over 10% of people who are hospitalized.

Ninety-two percent of the people who died from COVID-19 had underlying health conditions. Hypertension and diabetes are the most common underlying health conditions among people who died from COVID-19. Neurologic conditions, cardiovascular disease and chronic renal disease are also common. Of the deaths reported by Public Health, 3,705 people had hypertension, 2,727 people had diabetes, 1,498 people had cardiovascular disease, 1,097 had chronic renal disease, and 1,025 people had neurologic conditions. Please note, each person may have multiple conditions. Public Health estimates as many as 20% to 30% of L.A. County residents, across all age groups, have an underlying health condition that puts them at higher risk for serious disease from COVID-19.

Public Health highlights smoking as a risk factor for serious illness from COVID-19 because smoking harms every system in the body and causes both cardiovascular disease and pulmonary disease. People who smoke are two to four times more likely to become seriously ill from COVID-19 (i.e. requiring hospitalization, being admitted to the ICU, needing mechanical ventilation, and dying) when compared to those who did not smoke. For those who are smoking or vaping, there are services available to help you quit. If you need help with quitting, you can reach out to the California Smokers’ Helpline at 1-800-NO-BUTTS or visit LAQuits.com.

“To the many people across our communities who are grieving a loved one or friend who has passed away from COVID-19, we are so sorry for your loss,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, director of Public Health. “I’m sure we all know people with underlying health conditions, and we ourselves may have these fairly common health issues. These are people throughout our communities whose health conditions place them at greater risk for serious illness if they become infected with COVID-19, making it so important that we take collective responsibility to do our best to not transmit the virus. We are not helpless as we get ready for fall and winter. We have tools and strategies that we have been using to protect each other, and, when we use them, they work.”

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues and flu season approaches, Public Health encourages everyone to protect themselves from the flu by getting the flu immunization. Everyone 6 months and older should be immunized against the flu. It is highly likely that both flu and COVID-19 will be present in LA County this year. It’s important to note that in the past, when we have experienced a severe flu season, L.A. County health care providers have sometimes reached capacity and needed to implement contingency plans to accommodate more patients, particularly at urgent care centers and emergency rooms. Getting immunized is important because it is safe and provides protection against the harmful effects of influenza; flu immunizations help keep people out of the hospital which will conserve hospital resources that could become strained with both influenza and COVID-19 circulating at the same time. You can get the flu immunization from your regular health care provider or local pharmacy. Flu immunizations are also provided at no-cost or low-cost at various locations throughout the County. For more information on where you can get immunized for the flu, visit: www.publichealth.lacounty.gov.

Of those who died, information about race and ethnicity is available for 6,131 people (99% of the cases reported by Public Health). Today’s reported COVID-19 death occurred in a person between the ages of 65 and 79 years old who did not have underlying health conditions.

The City of Glendale reports 3,749 cases, the City of La Cañada Flintridge reports 183 cases, Sunland reports 456 cases, Tujunga reports 519 cases, and the unincorporated portion of La Crescenta-Montrose reports 203 cases.

Testing results are available for nearly 2,646,000 individuals with 9% of all people testing positive.

The Reopening Protocols, COVID-19 Data Dashboard, Recovery Metrics, Recovery Dashboard, and additional things you can do to protect yourself, your family and your community are on the Public Health website, www.publichealth.lacounty.gov.