Last week, county officials reported that a technical error had slowed their data reporting systems. After the issue was a resolved, backlogged cases were included in counts on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Even after accounting for the backlog, L.A. County has gone from about 940 new cases per day at the beginning of October to, as of last week, nearly 1,200 new cases per day, said Barbara Ferrer, the L.A. County director of public health. This week, that’s up to as many as 1600 per day, and hospitalizations and deaths are up as well.
Stay masked, stay safe — maintain socially-responsible physical distancing, especially indoors in public. Frequent hand-washing is recommended. The pandemic continues to have a racist differential impact. Although there were new cases in 343 different communities, the largest number in the last week, over 7,000, were in East Los Angeles.
Los Angeles County Health Officer, Muntu Davis, MD, MPH issued a Health Advisory for private gatherings and public celebrations. The potential risk of COVID-19 transmission at such celebrations is high.
To prevent future spread of COVID-19, Dr. Davis reminds L.A. County it’s best to celebrate at home with your household, however, if you are going to host or attend a private gathering, it must adhere to the following Public Health protocols:
* Held outdoors with physical distancing between households;
* Limited to 3 households, including the host and all guests;
* Cloth face coverings being worn when not eating or drinking;
* Food served in single-serve disposable containers;
* Two hours or less.
