County Announces 56 New COVID-19 Deaths

The LA County Department of Public Health has confirmed 56 new deaths and 1,541 new cases of the Coronavirus on Monday. This is the highest number of new cases reported to date.

“To all of you who are facing a future without loved ones who have passed away from COVID-19, we are deeply sorry for your loss. You are in our thoughts and prayers every day,” said Barbara Ferrer, Director of Public Health. “In Los Angeles County, we have many residents that are at very high risk for becoming infected with COVID-19 and becoming seriously ill from the virus, and this is reflected in our case numbers, the number of people who are hospitalized, and the number of people who have died from COVID-19. We continue to prioritize the need for more intensive efforts to expand testing, treatment, and prevention strategies for these residents.”

To date, Public Health has identified 22,485 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of LA County.

In total there have been 1,056 fatalities.

Ninety-two percent of the people who died had underlying health conditions.

Of those who died, information about race and ethnicity is available for 977 people (99 percent of the cases); 38 percent of deaths occurred among Latinx residents, 28 percent among white residents, 18 percent among Asian residents, 14 percent among African American residents, 1 percent among Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander residents and 1 percent among residents identifying with other races. African Americans, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, and people living in communities with high levels of poverty continue to have the highest rate of death per 100,000 people for COVID-19 when compared to other groups.

As of today, 4,715 people who tested positive for COVID-19 (22 percent of positive cases) have been hospitalized at some point during their illness. Testing capacity continues to increase in LA County, with testing results available for over 139,000 individuals and 14 percent of people testing positive.

In response to motion by the County Board of Supervisors to address issues of inequities in COVID-19 outcomes, the county released a report about the racial/ethnic and socioeconomic characteristics of people who have been tested, hospitalized and died from the Coronavirus. The rates of the virus confirmed cases and deaths are extremely high among Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.

The rates are also higher among African Americans and Latinos than among whites and Asians.

These trends are of great concern and suggest more affluent residents have better access to COVID-19 testing and treatment services, even as the rates of infection appear to be higher in lower income communities.

The findings also highlight the urgent need for more intensive efforts to expand culturally competent testing, treatment and prevention strategies in the African American, Latino and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander populations, as well as in low income communities.

The county is working with community partners to implement strategies that both acknowledge root causes of longstanding inequities in the distribution of resources needed for health, and an immediate set of action steps to improve access to testing, treatment and services.