LA County Reports 1,603 New Coronavirus Cases, 57 Additional Deaths
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Thursday reported 1,603 newly confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus and 57 additional deaths, bringing countywide totals to 227,346 reported cases and 5,446 reported deaths.
Of those who have died from the illness, 92% had underlying health conditions, with hypertension and diabetes being the most common along with neurologic conditions and cardiovascular disease, the health department said.
According to the department, nearly 3,000 people who died had hypertension, more than 2,000 had diabetes, 1,300 people neurologic conditions and 1,300 had cardiovascular disease. Health officials also reported that 24% of COVID-19 deaths were reported in people between 41 and 64 with underlying conditions and 3% were reported in people between the ages of 18 and 40 with underlying conditions.
Of the 57 new deaths reported Thursday, 20 were over the age of 80, 19 were between the ages of 65 and 79, 11 were between 50 and 64 and three were between the ages of 30 and 49 and 45 people had underlying health conditions.
As of Thursday, there were 1,378 confirmed COVID-19 patients hospitalized with 31% being treated in intensive care units. Along with recent declines in the number of coronavirus patients being hospitalized, the county also reported a decrease in the average length of hospitalization — down to a little over five days instead of the 10 that was being reported in May — which could reflect improvements in treatment and a shift in the age distribution of hospitalized patients, which has been trending younger.
The county also reported improvements in outbreaks at skilled nursing facilities with 1.7% of residents and 1.1% of staff testing positive for COVID-19 between Aug. 2-8. Out of the 341 facilities surveyed, 69% were classified as having an outbreak — of which 79% did not report any additional cases. In mid-May, deaths in skilled nursing facilities peaked at an average of 27 deaths per day. On Aug. 11, the average daily number of deaths was nine.
As of Thursday, 13,120 healthcare workers and first responders in L.A. County have tested positive for COVID-19 and 82 have died. Nurses account for 37% of the cases.
The health department also said it was still expecting to get backlog cases from the state's reporting system and encouraged those who had tested positive to call 1-833-540-0473 to connect with a public health specialist.
With testing results available for more than 2.13 million people, the county's overall positivity rate was holding steady at 10%.
