Los Angeles County officials reported 1,568 newly confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 58 more deaths today, bringing the county’s totals to 72,023 cases and 2,890 deaths.
Long Beach on Saturday reported 4 additional deaths due to the coronavirus, all of them associated with long-term care facilities. The total number of positive cases is now 2,599.
The daunting numbers came after health orders were relaxed again in the county, allowing businesses such as museums, gyms, galleries, RV parks and zoos to reopen as soon as this weekend, provided they impose restrictions such as ensuring social distancing and requiring face coverings for employees and visitors.
Barbara Ferrer, director of the county health department, stressed this week that the reopening of more business sectors should not be seen as an indication the county is out of the woods in terms of the coronavirus pandemic, noting, “We’re still in the middle of the woods and we have a lot of risk.”
She said it will remain important for residents to adhere to the health restrictions when visiting any reopened business, and for the businesses themselves to enforce them.
Highlighting the need for such precautions, health officials confirmed Wednesday there has been a slight uptick in the rate of the virus’ spread in the county. At the height of the pandemic, people infected with COVID-19 transmitted the virus to an average of three other people.
Under strict stay-at- home orders and business closures, that number fell to below one.
But in the weeks since businesses have been allowed to reopen and more people have been mingling in the community, that infection rate has now risen above one. The county’s medical services director, Dr. Christina Ghaly, said the county has enough hospital beds to handle an increase in cases, but the higher infection rate could lead to a shortage of intensive-care beds within two to four weeks.
Ghaly said the county’s modeling predicts “the spread of COVID-19 in the Los Angeles County area is likely to increase gradually over time.”
She stressed that the predictions are based solely on actual hospitalization numbers, not on the increasing numbers of people who are leaving their homes and interacting with the public at newly opened businesses or—more recently —massive protests against police brutality.