Los Angeles County’s daily number of coronavirus cases continued to decline on Sunday, bolstering hopes that the number of new cases will decline as spring approaches and vaccinations increase.
The province reported 1,936 new cases of coronavirus and 82 related deaths, relatively low numbers that may partially reflect the reporting over the weekend, according to the Department of Public Health. More than 1.1 million cases have been reported nationwide and 19,000 deaths since the pandemic began, officials said.
Yet the daily rate during the past week – averaging less than 3,500 new infections per day – has dropped dramatically since the peak of the pandemic in early January, when the average number of new daily cases reached 15,100.
The daily number of new infections, although declining, remains higher, according to the Department of Health, than in October, when the country reported fewer than 1,000 new cases per day. The number of infections and related deaths has increased over the past three months, which officials attribute mainly to back-to-back holidays.
Although the peak of the outbreak may be over, city officials have recently struggled to find enough vaccine supplies to keep the vaccination sites open.
Five vaccination sites that would have to close on Friday due to lack of stock closed on Thursday. The sites included Dodger Stadium, Crenshaw Christian Center and other stores in San Fernando, Lincoln Park and Hansen Dam.
Officials said regular delivery of vaccine doses had dropped to 16,000 last week, a sharp drop from the 90,000 doses received the previous week. The lack of vaccine supplies has frustrated local officials who say they have the organization and staff to vaccinate many more people.
Eric Garcetti, mayor of LA, said the sites would reopen as soon as the city received more supplies, but probably only after the President’s Day holiday. Garcetti said last week that the shortage of vaccines is a huge obstacle in our race to vaccinate locals.
“We vaccinate people faster when new bottles arrive here in Los Angeles,” the mayor said, “and I’m very worried now.