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California health officials are starting to think about what the next phase of reopening might look like, offering a silver lining for places like Los Angeles County.
For more than a month, most of the state’s 58 counties have been on a municipal watch list with worrying statistics on COVID-19. Health officials are assessing key metrics to assess the spread of the virus in the community and the county’s ability to respond to it. Counties that do not meet state criteria cannot open up all parts of the economy.
There are several criteria that must be met before a county can be removed from the list, and Los Angeles County has met most of them: the average daily number of infections; hospitalizations and deaths are all down; and it has enough intensive care beds and ventilators to handle a surge in patient numbers.
But LA County falls short of the required 14-day average of less than 100 infections per 100,000 population. As of Tuesday, the county’s rate was 239.2 positive cases per 100,000 population. Still, the average is a marked improvement from the 335 per capita last week.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said on Tuesday that state public health officials are developing a new set of state-mandated protocols on how counties, once removed from the state’s watch list, can start reopening their economies and easing restrictions on coronaviruses in this second round.
“The last time we did this we empowered local health workers to make decisions for themselves,” Newsom said. “We’re going to focus a lot more on the how this time around, not just the when.”
People wear masks as they walk the Santa Cruz Beach promenade as a precaution against coronaviruses.
(Jeff Chiu / Associated Press)
LA County health officials on Tuesday announced 1,003 new cases and 64 additional deaths, bringing the county’s overall total to 224,031 cases and 5,335 deaths since the outbreak began. Hospitalizations have dropped by more than a third last month.
“I hope we can stay on this trajectory,” said County Supervisor Hilda Solis, whose district has recorded many cases in the area. “We’ve hit hard, letting people know that they have to be part of the solution and that the only way to get the economy back on track and get people back to work is to lower those rates. “
More than 2.1 million people in Los Angeles County have been tested for COVID-19, of which about 10% have tested positive, county health officials said in a statement on Tuesday.
“As we work together to prevent more illness and death from COVID-19, it is important to note that while testing can help identify those infected, testing alone cannot prevent all transmission,” Public health director Barbara Ferrer said in a statement.
“People who test positive are able to infect the other 48 hours before they have symptoms or a positive test result. The best way to prevent transmission is to take universal precautions – keep six feet from each other, wear a face mask outside your home, and wash your hands often.
On Monday, Santa Cruz County was removed from the state’s watch list and Amador, Mendocino, Inyo and Calaveras counties were added. San Diego County, which has reported fewer than 100 new cases of coronavirus per 100,000 population for days now, could be removed from the list next week if the trend continues.
“Many counties in the state are doing it very well,” said state health official Dr Mark Ghaly, citing the success of mask requirements, isolating sick people and tracking down new cases in the framework of reason. “Some of those who are on the verge of being off the watch list have probably been on some of these efforts a little longer.”
As of Monday, nearly 10,000 new cases were reported and nearly 100 additional deaths. And as infections and deaths have plummeted in recent days, hospitalizations increased on Tuesday for the first time in two weeks, Ghaly said.
“Someday is not a trend, but it is an important number that we will continue to monitor to make sure it does not become a trend,” he said.
California recorded 632,667 coronavirus cases and 11,342 deaths on Tuesday. A backlog of data that had excluded the results of 300,000 tests from the state tally has since been resolved and most positive cases have been included in the state total, Ghaly said. Los Angeles County officials, meanwhile, said they expect more backlogs to appear in future totals.
Looking ahead, Ghaly urged the public to prepare for the flu season, which is looming. Since the disease is also a respiratory disease, many of the precautions people take against the transmission of COVID-19 should help slow the spread of the flu.
“But unlike COVID, we actually have a vaccine,” Ghaly said. “Not only will this protect you and your communities, it may be exactly what you need to avoid an emergency room visit. We know that additional movements in ERs and emergency care centers could create a risk of exposure to COVID-19. “
Flu vaccination trends do not look promising, however, he said.
Initially, the public was vaccinated in 2020 at a rate similar to last year, Ghaly said. But as the COVID-19 pandemic spread, flu shots dropped dramatically in the spring. It is only recently that the numbers have increased.
“The fact that we are still quite low compared to the peak in August worries us and allows me to encourage families – and caregivers, parents – to use this time to plan this critical meeting and catch up on vaccinations. so we don’t lose some of those big gains California has made, ”Ghaly said.
Times editor Phil Willon contributed to this report.
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