L.A. County Public Health Covid-19 Report: 10 New Deaths, 2,600 New Positive Cases – Deadline

On Saturday, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health reported 10 new deaths from Covid-19, and 2,600 new positive cases.

While the number of deaths and confirmed cases reported today may reflect delays in weekend reporting, today’s data brings the County to a total of 24,624 deaths and 1,281,760 positive cases.

At time of reporting, 688 residents are hospitalized with Covid-19. 21% of them are in the ICU.

Covid test results have now been made available to more than 7,241,000 people, with 16% testing positive. Today’s daily test positivity rate is 4.9%.

Two of today’s new deaths were of people over the age of 80. Three individuals who died were between the ages of 65 and 79, while an additional three were between 50 and 64 years of age. One person who passed away was between the ages of 30 and 49. One of the deaths reported today came from the city of Long Beach.

Public Health reiterated on Saturday that Los Angeles County is in the midst of a Covid surge, attributable to the spread of “the more infectious Delta variant” and “the intermingling of unmasked individuals where vaccination status is unknown.” At this point, L.A. is considered to be at the level of “high community transmission,” as defined by the CDC, though cases are still at a lower number than those that have been reached in previous surges.

“The Delta variant is one of the most aggressive and infectious respiratory diseases known, and currently makes up over 80% of sequenced cases in L.A. County. We do, however, have a very powerful tool in the COVID vaccinations. With unvaccinated individuals comprising over 90% of those currently hospitalized, the ability of the three vaccines to protect us from serious illness caused by the Delta variant is well established,” said Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer. “Please know that evidence continues to accumulate in studies done by private and government scientists and researchers noting that the vaccines are safe, and they save lives. If you are eligible but have not yet been vaccinated, please consider getting vaccinated now.”

The County has aimed to combat the Covid surge by reinstating a health order, requiring residents to mask up in indoor public spaces, regardless of vaccination status. The order was put back into place on July 17 and remains in effect.