Los Angeles County public health officials on Saturday reported 823 new cases of coronavirus and 98 deaths, noting that more than 22,000 residents have now died from the virus.
“Today’s grim milestone reminds us of the human toll of this pandemic and how actions affect cases, hospitalizations and deaths a few weeks from now,” Barbara Ferrer, provincial director of public health, said in a statement. Deaths are a lingering indication of the pandemic, reflecting the exposure to the virus that occurred four or five weeks earlier.
“If we go to spring and the temperature in Los Angeles County warms up, a lot of people will take advantage of our beautiful county,” Ferrer said. “I ask that you do this responsibly by avoiding large gatherings and crowds, always putting on your mask and postponing non-essential travel at the moment.”
The province also reported 16 more cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome, or MISC-C, a serious but relatively rare inflammatory condition associated with COVID-19, which left 116 children in LA County ill with one child who dies.
Although the number of daily deaths is relatively high, hospitalizations, which usually reflect exposure to three to four weeks in advance, continue to decline. There were 1,176 patients in LA County hospitals as of Friday, a drop of more than 50% from two weeks earlier, when there were 2,213 patients.
Orange County reported similar declines, recording 269 cases and 98 related deaths on Saturday, bringing the total to 247,641 cases and 4,173 deaths. The province said the number of deaths would be higher than normal over the next few days as it worked to clear up a backlog caused by a technical problem. There were 321 COVID-19 patients in Orange County hospitals as of Friday, a drop of nearly 46% from two weeks earlier.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles County officials said Friday that they hope to receive 312,000 doses of vaccine this week, a significant increase over previous awards, and that they are using 62% for the first shots. Eligible include health care workers, people aged 65 and over and essential workers in education, child care, emergency services, food and agriculture.
As of Friday, LA County administered 2,420,130 doses of vaccine, representing approximately 23,966 doses per 100,000 residents, and Orange County administered 819,249 doses, or approximately 25,891 per 100,000 residents, according to The Times’ vaccination tracker.
Amid the decline in the declining number of cases and an increasing supply of vaccine, the state on Friday unveiled new guidelines that will be able to open California theme parks and sports stadiums as early as April 1st.
Amusement parks will be allowed to reopen with restrictions in provinces that have left the strictest press level of the four-phase reopening plan.
Outdoor sports – with fans – and live performances will be allowed to start with restrictions in provinces at all four levels of the reopening plan. Capacity will be limited to 100 people in provinces at the strictest level.
Most of Southern California, including the states of Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego, remains in the purple level, but is expected to enter the red level soon. The timing depends in part on when California can administer 400,000 more vaccinations to people living in the lowest-income areas in the state, which will cause a broad relaxation of the reopening criteria.
Even when provinces meet the threshold of the state, provinces have the authority to set stricter limits than those authorized by the state.
LA County officials said it was too early to say whether they would abide by the state’s new relaxed rules because they were still reviewing the details, but that they intended to get involved as soon as possible.
Times Money authors Luke Money, Rong-Gong Lin II and Hugo Martín contributed to this report.