Public health officials in Los Angeles County on Sunday continued to report a decline in the number of coronavirus cases, raising hopes that more restrictions on businesses could be relaxed soon.
New cases and deaths are always lower on weekends because not all laboratories report the results.
According to the Department of Public Health, according to the Department of Public Health, the province recorded only 438 new cases and 20 related deaths, which limited a few weeks of sustained decline. The province recorded an average of 590 new cases a day last week, down 62% from two weeks earlier, according to The Times’ coronavirus tracker. As of Saturday, there were 750 COVID-19 patients in county hospitals, a decrease of nearly 33% from two weeks prior.
Officials said that if the downward trend continues, it is possible that LA County could move into the less stringent orange level of the state’s color code reopening blueprint next month. This will enable pubs to reopen outdoors, lift restrictions on shops and increase restrictions on restaurants, churches, gyms, museums and movie theaters. The province has already moved from the strict purple level and to the red level, enabling restaurants, gyms, museums and movie theaters to start at limited capacity indoors.
“It’s time to get things started,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said in an interview on CBS ‘Face the Nation on Sunday. “It’s time to get our economy moving. It’s time to dump her and move on. ”
He sought to distinguish between the most recent relaxation of rules and a rapid reopening of the economy in May, which is blamed for an increase in infections in June and July. Unlike back then, he said, experts now believe that between half and two-thirds of the LA population have antibodies because they are exposed to the virus or are vaccinated against it.
“So it’s a very different context than when the openings took place in July last year, or when the openings did not take place in December, but we’ve still seen this virus burn through our city,” Garcetti said. “This is a very, very optimistic moment.”
The levels are awarded on the basis of three factors: COVID-19 dropout rates, the rate of positive test results and a measure of health equity aimed at ensuring that the positive test rate in poorer communities is not significantly higher than the country’s overall rate not.
Provinces must record two consecutive weeks of qualifying data to progress to a less restrictive level and must remain in a level for at least three weeks before moving again.
To move from the red to the orange level, a country must have an adjusted rate virus rate of 3.9 or less new cases per 100,000 people per day, a test positivity rate of less than 5% and a health equity measure of less than 5.3%.
According to the latest data released on Tuesday, LA County checked both the boxes for health equity and positivity, but the calculated rate – 4.1 – was still a bit too high. The province will stay away from potential progress for a maximum of two weeks.
Orange County is in the same boat, with two qualifying criteria, but an adjusted fall rate of exactly 4.0. The province also continued to report declines, and on Sunday recorded 113 cases of the virus and 45 deaths; hospitalizations have dropped by about 35% in the past two weeks.
The reopening was facilitated after government officials drew up the roadmap after achieving a goal of administering 2 million COVID-19 vaccine doses in the most disadvantaged communities in California, and lowering the standard rate that provinces must achieve in order to to move the levels. Once the state gives 4 million doses in the areas, the criteria will weaken even further.
Although the rate of vaccinations has increased over the past few weeks, officials say a vaccine shortage is still the biggest constraint. The remaining appointments at vaccination sites managed by LA province will be limited to second doses this week, the Department of Public Health said Sunday.
Garcetti said the city can give twice as many shots as it is currently inflicting. “Give us more, we’ll get them in our arms,” he said.
Health officials have urged people to continue to follow sanitary guidelines, such as masking, removal and regular hand washing until the vaccine can be distributed more widely, noting that just because restrictions on some activities have been weakened does not mean it is risk-free. .
Times staff writer Luke Money contributed to this report.