COVID-19 vaccines begin to reduce transmission of coronavirus in LA County, health director says



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The COVID-19 vaccine rollout is likely to start reducing transmission of the coronavirus in Los Angeles County, the senior public health official there said this week, though warned the county still has a long way to go. go before collective immunity is reached.

Daily coronavirus cases in LA County have declined steadily since the start of the new year, with the 7-day average daily test positivity rate now standing at 1.7%. Meanwhile, as of March 17, some 3.2 million of the county’s 10 million people had received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Overall, LA County administered the most doses of any California county, according to the data.

Speaking to the data on Monday, LA County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer noted that the sharp drop in coronavirus infections has been reported among residents and nursing home staff and workers in the health, who were among the first eligible to receive the vaccine.

“In our skilled nursing facilities, we will not see a surge [as] we saw it in April, May and June. The vaccinations are held there, “Ferrer said, according to local news station KTLA.” We already have a lot of evidence on their effectiveness in this context. “

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“I think that’s good news – lots of people vaccinated, much lower transmission rates,” she added.

Still, Ferrer and other county health officials urged caution, noting that the rate of those newly hospitalized with COVID-19 in the county has slowed overall, but is now doing so at a “pace. slower and slower ”.

“This decrease in the rate of slowdown reflects an increase in the rate of transmission,” officials warned.

“Time will tell what this really means, and we do not yet have sufficient information on whether this will lead to an increase in infections, but we all need to remain vigilant,” said Dr Christina Ghaly, director of the Department of health services.

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Authorities expect 280,000 additional doses of the vaccine this week to further boost immunizations and better prevent shortages.

In the meantime, however, “I think the message is that we just have to continue to be careful to remember that the immunization clearly hasn’t reached the entire population of Los Angeles County, which we want people to take advantage of. ‘a vaccine as soon as possible, because one of them is available, and we are working to get it out as quickly as possible, ”Ghaly added.

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