Long Beach this week reported five more people died of COVID-19 as the city is seeing a slight decrease in the rate of new cases and the percentage of people testing positive for the virus.
The city’s rate of cases per 100,000 residents is now 34.8, down from 36 on Monday. The percentage of people testing positive is now 7.1%, down from 7.3% earlier in the week.
That is the first decrease in those key metrics since early August.
However the city reported five new deaths since Monday, and a total of 10 new deaths since Aug. 18. The number of Long Beach residents who’ve died since the pandemic now totals 971.
The city’s vaccination rates have increased slightly as well. The city reported 76% of the adult population over 18 has been vaccinated, and 73.6% of all those who are eligible over 12.
Earlier this week the Food and Drug Administration gave full approval to the Pfizer vaccine, one of three vaccines that had been previously approved for emergency use.
And a federal study released Wednesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that in Los Angeles County, unvaccinated residents were five times more likely to get infected with the virus and 29 times more likely to wind up hospitalized.
The CDC study determined that between May 1 and July 25, 25.3% of COVID-19 infections in the county occurred among fully vaccinated people, while 71.4% were in unvaccinated people and 3.3% among those who were partially vaccinated.
According to the study, people who were unvaccinated were 4.9 times more likely to be infected with the virus during that period, and 29.2 times more likely to be hospitalized.
County health officials have repeatedly insisted that while people who get vaccinated can still contract the virus, they are far less likely to become seriously ill, require hospitalization or die.
“The data continues to provide reassurance that fully vaccinated people are protected from severe COVID-19 illness,” county Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said in a statement Wednesday. “Together we must continue to increase COVID-19 vaccinations, incoordination with other prevention strategies like masking, testing, contact tracing and quarantine. These efforts are critical to preventing COVID-19hospitalizations and deaths.”
City News Service contributed to this report.