City officials Thursday reported an additional 15 coronavirus-related deaths and the county reported 213—but hospitalizations continue to fall, now reaching levels not seen in over a month.
Two days after the one-year anniversary of the first COVID-19 case reported in the county, total deaths in Long Beach are now at 649, while the county has surpassed another sobering milestone with 16,107.
Hospitalizations Thursday at the city and county level were 399 and 6,026, respectively, the lowest patient count for both agencies since Dec. 22. This is a continuation of recent trends that health officials say are promising, but warn should not lull people into a false sense of security.
Long Beach reported 414 new coronavirus cases, a slight increase from the last two days, for a total of 47,619 since the pandemic began. The city’s seven-day positivity rate fell again to 10.7%, as did the daily cases per 100,000 residents to 75. Both these figures are the lowest the city has reported since early December.
County officials reported 6,592 new cases for a total of 1,097,941 since March. In a press release, county officials said Thursday’s deaths reflect transmission that occurred weeks earlier.
“Because of the recent surge in cases and hospitalizations earlier this month,” the release states, “the county will likely continue to experience a high number of deaths a day for some time.”