Average daily coronavirus case rates dropped further in Los Angeles County on Tuesday, March 16, dipping to 4.1 cases per 100,000 residents from 5.2 per 100,000 last week — continuing positive trends in the year-long battle against the pandemic.
The decline in the daily case rate was one in a series of positive signs health officials reported Tuesday, which marked the one-year anniversary of the county implementing a stay-at-home order to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
But the case rate is among the most significant metric for those looking for a return to normalcy. That metric, along with the positivity rate, dictates when counties can reopen. Los Angeles County entered the second-most restrictive red tier for the first time this week. And when rates for two consecutive weeks fall at or below 3.9 cases per 100,000, the county may advance to the even less-restrictive orange tier.
Public health officials on Tuesday said L.A. County could get there by early April.
“This is only possible if we all do our part to keep each other safe,” Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said in a statement. “I believe that as more people are vaccinated and as we continue to follow public health safety measures, we can continue re-openings without threatening each other’s health.”
And just like when the state lowered the threshold to reopen under the red tier, officials have pinned a target of 4 million vaccine doses administered in the most disadvantaged regions of the state in order to make it easier for counties to reopen under the orange tier.
The new target under that alternate scenario would be 5.9 cases or fewer per 100,000. Because L.A. County has already been below that threshold for two weeks, it could reopen further once that goal is met.
Under the orange tier, restaurants, museums, places of worship and movie theaters will be able to increase indoor capacity from 25% to 50%. Gyms and fitness centers could move from 10% to 25% capacity. Bars that don’t serve food would be allowed to open outdoors at 25% capacity. And cardrooms would be able to move indoors at 25% capacity.
Those with office jobs, meanwhile, could soon see their work-from-home, pandemic lifestyles end. While the orange tier would have public health officials encourage people who can work from home to keep doing so, employees could return to offices with certain modifications.
The continuing good news came as L.A. County reported 318 new cases, among the lowest reported daily case counts since April. The county also reported 52 new deaths, a number that has remained stubbornly high. A total of 22,519 people in L.A. County have now died from coronavirus-related causes, with 1,210,905 people testing positive since the pandemic began.
Long Beach, which has its own health department, reported two more coronavirus related deaths on Tuesday and 52 additional cases. The city’s death toll hit 887 Tuesday, and 51,666 people have tested positive. Pasadena, which also has its own health department, reported no new deaths and 4 new cases; the death toll there was 327 and the number of cases since the pandemic began was 11,036.
L.A. County hospitals, meanwhile, had 857 people admitted with COVID-19, 236 of whom were in intensive care units.
The number of worksite outbreaks has also plummeted, now down to 385 ongoing investigations from 1,130 outbreak investigations reported a month ago, according to the Department of Public Health.
Belying the positive data in Los Angeles County, however, were the alarming rates of a new surge in coronavirus cases spreading across Europe. In Paris, where the vaccine rollout has slowed, intensive care units are filling up again, causing discussions about another lockdown. More than half of Italy also returned to increased restrictions due to the renewed spread of the virus.
Experts say that COVID-19 variants that are more contagious and possibly more resilient to vaccines could be to blame for the latest surge, something U.S. officials, including those in Los Angeles, are equally worried about. Those variants have also underscored how critical it is to get everyone vaccinated as quickly as possible — and why folks should follow health guidelines until the community reaches herd immunity.
“Let’s not repeat past mistakes,” Ferrer said in a Monday statement, “and let’s pledge to keep everyone alive until it is their turn to get vaccinated.”
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March 17, 2021 at 07:07AM
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LA County coronavirus case rates drop further - The Daily Breeze
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