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Los Angeles County public health officials continued to report a drop in the number of coronavirus cases on Sunday, raising hopes that more restrictions on businesses may soon be relaxed.
New cases and deaths are always lower on weekends because not all laboratories report their results.
Still, the county recorded just 438 new cases and 20 related deaths, according to the public health department, capping several weeks of sustained declines. The county recorded an average of 590 new cases per day over the past week, a 62% drop from two weeks earlier, according to the Times coronavirus tracker. There were 750 COVID-19 patients in county hospitals on Saturday, a drop of nearly 33% from two weeks earlier.
Officials said if the downward trend continues, it is possible that LA County could move to the less stringent orange level of the color-coded state reopening plan next month. This would allow bars to reopen to the outdoors, lift capacity restrictions on stores and increase the limits on restaurants, churches, gymnasiums, museums and cinemas. The county has already moved from the strictest purple level to the red level, allowing restaurants, gyms, museums and cinemas to resume their activities indoors at a limited capacity.
“It’s time to shake things up,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said in an interview on CBS “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “It’s time to start our economy. It’s time to start kissing our loved ones again.
He sought to distinguish between the most recent loosening of the rules and a quick reopening of the economy in May which was blamed for a subsequent surge in infections in June and July. Unlike then, he said, experts now estimate that between half and two-thirds of the population of Los Angeles has antibodies due to either being exposed to the virus or being vaccinated. against this one.
“So it’s a very different backdrop to the openings last July or when the openings didn’t happen in December, but we still saw this virus burn in our city,” Garcetti said. “It’s a very, very optimistic moment.”
Levels are assigned based on three factors: rates of COVID-19 cases, the rate of positive test results, and a measure of health equity meant to ensure that the rate of positive tests in poorer communities does not. not significantly higher than the county’s overall figure.
Counties must record two consecutive weeks of qualifying data to move to a less restrictive level and must remain in a level for at least three weeks before moving again.
To go from red to orange, a county must have an adjusted coronavirus case rate of 3.9 new cases or less per 100,000 people each day, a test positivity rate of less than 5%, and a measure of fairness in health less than 5.3%.
According to the latest data released Tuesday, LA County ticked the boxes for health equity and positivity rate, but its calculated case rate – 4.1 – was still a bit too high. The county is at best two weeks away before potentially moving forward.
Orange County is in the same boat, with two qualifying parameters but an adjusted case rate of exactly 4.0. The county also continued to report declines, recording 113 cases of the virus and 45 deaths on Sunday; hospitalizations have fallen by about 35% in the past two weeks.
The reopening was made easier after state officials reshuffled the roadmap after meeting the goal of delivering 2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine to California’s most disadvantaged communities, lowering the rate benchmarks that counties must meet to pass the levels. Once the state distributes 4 million doses in these areas, the criteria will become even more relaxed.
Although the pace of vaccinations has picked up in recent weeks, officials say a vaccine shortage remains the main constraint. Remaining appointments at LA County-run vaccination sites will be limited to the second dose this week due to low supplies, the public health department said on Sunday.
Garcetti said the city was able to deal twice as many hits as it currently administers. “Give us more, we will put them in arms,” he said.
Health officials have urged people to continue to follow health guidelines such as masking, keeping away and washing hands frequently until the vaccine can be distributed more widely, noting that it is not. because the restrictions have been relaxed on certain activities they are risk-free.
Times writer Luke Money contributed to this report.
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