County officials provide updates, and answer questions regarding the COVID-19 pandemic for April 21st, 2020.

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) has confirmed 46 new deaths and 1,400 new cases of 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). Seven hundred and thirty-four of these cases are from a backlog of tests, and 625 are daily reported cases. Thirty-three people who died were over the age of 65; four people who died were between the ages of 41 to 65 years old, and two people who died were between the ages of 18 to 40 years old. Thirty-one people had underlying health conditions including 27 people over the age of 65, three people between the ages of 41 to 65 years old and one person between the ages of 18 to 40 years old. Five deaths were reported by the City of Pasadena and two deaths were reported by the City of Long Beach.

To date, Public Health has identified 15,140 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of LA County, and a total of 663 deaths. Eighty-nine percent of people who died had underlying health conditions. Of those who died, information about race and ethnicity is available for 582 people (95 percent of the cases); 36% of deaths occurred among Latinx residents, 28% among White residents, 18% among Asian residents, 16% among African American residents, and 3% among residents identifying with other races. Upon further investigation, 76 cases reported earlier were not LA County residents. As of today, 3,639 people who tested positive for COVID-19 (24% 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 89,000 individuals and 14% of people testing positive.

Public Health continues to receive a backlog of test results. In an effort to expand testing capacity, many new labs are responding to the emergency and Public Health is working with them to ensure that they have the proper reporting systems in place. Until this reporting issue is resolved, there may be periodic increases in positive cases and total cases due to unevenness in daily reporting.

“Every day as we report the number of lives lost to COVID-19 we are reminded about the need to do everything we can to slow the spread of this disease. We mourn the loss of members of our collective community, and our hearts go out to their loved ones as they grieve,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “As we learn more about the virus it becomes clear that there are many asymptomatic people across the county that are capable of spreading COVID-19 to others. Our strategies moving forward need to ask everyone to keep their physical distance from each other, wear face coverings when in contact with others, and stay home as much as possible.”

Public Health reminds everyone that if you are ill, even with mild symptoms, please self- isolate at home for 7 days and until you are fever and symptom free for 72 hours. If you have been in close contact with a person who has tested positive for COVID-19 or is presumed to be infected with COVID-19, you must quarantine for 14 days from your last contact with that individual. Individuals who are elderly, have underlying health conditions or are pregnant may be at higher risk of serious illness and should contact their doctor as soon as they are sick.

The best protection against COVID-19 is to wash your hands frequently, avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands, self-isolate if you are sick, practice physical distancing (especially by staying at home) and wear a clean face covering when out in the public procuring or providing essential services. N95 and surgical masks should only be used by healthcare workers, first responders and essential workers providing care for people who are ill. The current Health Officer Order extends the previous Health Officer Order through May 15 and requires essential businesses to provide a cloth face covering for all employees to wear while performing duties that involve contact with other employees and or the public and to post physical distancing plans. The public is required to wear a face covering to enter essential businesses as well.

Additional things you can do to protect yourself, your family and your community are on the Public Health website, www.publichealth.lacounty.gov .