Long Beach health officials on Saturday reported four more deaths due to COVID-19 and 55 new positive cases, while county health officials urged those taking part in protests to follow health guidelines.

In Long Beach, 216 people have now died of COVID-19 since the pandemic began in March, and 10,492 people have been infected. The hospitalization rate, however, has fallen to 60 people, down from the 80s a month ago.

Los Angeles County reported 1,339 new cases of COVID-19 and 27 additional deaths, bringing the county’s totals to 239,756 cases and 5,759 fatalities.

The number of people hospitalized as of Saturday was 1,116, down from 1,168 on Friday and well below last month, when the number regularly topped 2,000.

Although coronavirus cases, deaths and hospitalizations have been declining in general of late, the county Department of Public Health continued to warn residents not to become lax in following preventive guidelines, such as wearing face coverings and social distancing.

On Thursday, the agency recognized the resurgence of protests in recent days, fueled by the Wisconsin police shooting of Jacob Blake, and noted planned gatherings Saturday to mark the 50th anniversary of the Chicano Moratorium.

The county urged people planning to take part in such events to stay home if they are sick, seek medical attention if they are displaying COVID-19 symptoms, wear a face covering, try to maintain physical distance from others, bring along hand sanitizer and keep their hands clean.

County health officials are warning that the coronavirus can infect children as easily as it can adults, while also reporting three additional local cases of a pediatric inflammatory syndrome linked to COVID-19 infections.

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday released a revised system for tracking counties’ efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus, and providing guidance on possible reopening of more businesses and schools.

But the county stressed that local officials had not yet fully reviewed the new state guidance, and the local health order has not been changed to allow such businesses to reopen.

“In order for our county to move through the state’s tier structure which will allow us to reopen more businesses, we must slow the COVID-19 transmission rates we are seeing,” county health director Barbara Ferrer said in a statement.

The county is currently in the purple tier, with widespread community transmission and an average of about 13 new cases a day per 100,000 residents. This tier carries the most restrictions for the re-opening of many sectors.

In order to reopen more businesses, the county will have to reduce our transmission rate to seven new cases a day per 100,000 residents.