Los Angeles Reports 1,000+ Covid Cases For Fourth Consecutive Day; Tally Likely Low As Test Positivity Spikes 17% In 24 Hours

UPDATED on Monday: Covid is spreading again in Los Angeles County, according to Monday’s numbers from public health officials. For the fourth consecutive day, the region’s daily Covid case count topped 1,000 — and that’s coming out of a weekend, when testing and case data generally skew lower.

In fact, while county officials confirmed 1,059 new cases and just one new death on Monday, they cautioned that “the number of cases and deaths likely reflect reporting delays over the weekend.”

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What’s more, the 7-day average test positivity rate — which is one of the most reliable measures of the rise or fall of infections — shot up 17%, from 2.4% to 2.8% in 24 hours.

PREVIOUSLY on Sunday: Los Angeles is experiencing an uptick of coronavirus cases in the last three days, with more than 3,000 incidences since Friday.

Today the LA County Department of Public Health has reported 1,113 new cases, 4 new deaths and 373 current hospitalizations.

This brings the county’s total deaths to 24,542 and 1,257,628 Covid-19 cases to date.

The number of people hospitalized in Los Angeles County because of the virus is also rising steadily, swelling from 336 on Friday to 373 on Saturday, according to state figures. There were 79 people in intensive care as of Saturday, down from 83 the previous day.

The 7-day average test positivity rate — considered one of the best measures of rising or falling infections — was 2.4%. One week ago that same rate was 1.5%. One month ago it was 0.3%. And, despite assumptions formed due to trends early in the pandemic, that spread is not happening among residents over 50.

“As cases increase, the urgency to get more people vaccinated is rising. Nearly 100% of new cases are occurring among those not fully vaccinated,” County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said. “All of our Covid-19 vaccines are very effective at protecting you from severe disease from COVID-19 and variants of concern like the Delta variant. We remain focused on equitably bringing vaccines and high-quality health information to all of our L.A. County communities with a particular focus on those communities that have been hard hit by the pandemic.”

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