County Sees Only Slight Increase in COVID-19 Patients on Sunday

The surge in hospitalizations due to the coronavirus slowed down in Los Angeles County, increasing by just four patients to 1,437, with 333 of those people in intensive care — also an increase of four from Saturday, according to state data released today.

The figures came one day after county health officials reported 4,283 new cases of COVID-19 and 13 additional deaths, which they attributed to continued high rates of transmission and significant increases in testing, including two in the hospital ICU units. 

It was the highest number of cases reported in one day in more than six months. In a bit of good news, however, Saturday’s test positivity rate was 4.7%, down from 5.3% Friday and previous week’s rate of 6.3%.

Locally, 20 patients are being treated at Huntington Hospital, routine testing programs are increasing at businesses and schools, and there will be quicker identification of asymptomatic people infected with COVID-19, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

Staff will contact all people testing positive to ensure they are isolating for 10 days and identifying all their close contacts who will be notified of the need to quarantine, the department said.

Health officials have attributed the sharp rise in infections over the past two months to the highly infectious Delta variant of the virus that was first discovered in India.

“With increased testing, our case numbers are likely to rise until we significantly reduce community transmission,” said county Public Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer. “While indoor masking and quarantine and isolation of cases and close contacts are effective strategies for reducing transmission, the quickest way to slow the spread is to increase vaccination coverage. Today, as I worked with our team at the Obregon Park vaccination clinic, I was encouraged to see so many teens coming in to get vaccinated. All these newly vaccinated teens contribute to the safe reopening of schools and get us closer to community immunity.”