County officials provide updates, and answer questions regarding the COVID-19 pandemic for May 4th, 2020.

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) has confirmed 28 new deaths and 568 new cases of 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). Twenty-two people who died were over the age of 65 years old and four people who died were between the ages of 41 to 65 years old. Twenty-two people had underlying health conditions including 18 people over the age of 65 years old and four people between the ages of 41 to 65 years old. Two deaths were reported by the City of Pasadena.

To date, Public Health has identified 26,217 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of LA County, and a total of 1,256 deaths. Ninety-three percent of people who died had underlying health conditions. Of those who died, information about race and ethnicity is available for 1,148 people (99 percent of the cases); 38% of deaths occurred among Latinx residents, 29% among White residents, 19% among Asian residents, 13% among African American residents, 1% among Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander residents and 1% 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. Upon further investigation, 13 cases and one death reported earlier were not LA County residents. As of today, 5,019 people who tested positive for COVID-19 (19% 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 nearly 173,000 individuals and 13% of people testing positive.

Public Health continues tracking the number of positive cases and deaths among healthcare workers related to the COVID-19 pandemic response. Public Health has confirmed 15 people who died from COVID-19 worked in a healthcare setting and 12 of the people who died worked in skilled nursing and assisted living facilities. Two thousand nine hundred and seventy-eight confirmed cases of COVID-19 occurred among healthcare workers and first responders; this is an additional 1,010 new cases reported since the previous week. Seven percent of these cases have been hospitalized. Forty-four percent of cases are among nurses, though cases have been identified among a range of occupational roles, including caregivers, people who work in administration, physicians and medical assistants. About 56% of these cases do not know or did not report how they were exposed. However, 78% of healthcare workers with known exposure were exposed in a healthcare facility. Healthcare workers who are positive worked at 24 different occupational settings, and the vast majority of cases are among healthcare workers from skilled nursing facilities and hospitals.

“Our community has suffered many losses to COVID-19, and to the families and friends who are mourning their loved ones, we are deeply sorry, and we wish you healing and peace,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “As we plan for our recovery, I want to emphasize that all of us share in the responsibility to reopen in a way that is safe and that does not cause a spike in COVID-19 cases that results in an overwhelmed health care system and deaths that could have been prevented. Recovery is a journey – one that will take many months – and I want us all to be prepared that there will be a ‘new normal’ during this period that will require us to continue to practice physical distancing and other infection control measures.”

As Public Health continues planning for recovery and relaxing select directives of the Safer at Home Order, businesses and residents will need to continue to observe and practice physical distancing requirements and infection control precautions. Health Officer Orders and directives will still continue to ensure it is safe for as many people to be able to work as possible while still slowing the spread of COVID-19 to prevent an overwhelming surge of COVID-19 cases at healthcare facilities. Physical distancing, wearing cloth face coverings, frequent hand washing, self-isolation and self-quarantine will continue to be very important throughout the foreseeable future. People who have underlying health conditions will still be at much greater risk for serious illness from COVID-19, so it will continue to be very important for you to stay at home as much as possible, to have groceries and medicine delivered, and to call your provider immediately if you have even mild symptoms.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated their guidance on how long people who are positive for COVID-19 should self-isolate. New evidence suggests it may take longer for the virus to shed, which means that an infected person may be able to infect other people for a longer period of time than was initially thought. People who are positive or presumed positive for COVID-19 should now self-isolate for 10 days and 72 hours after fever and symptoms subside. This means you must stay home until your fever has resolved without the use of fever-reducing medications and there is improvement in your respiratory symptoms (e.g., cough, shortness of breath) for at least 3 days (72 hours) after recovery, AND at least 10 days have passed since your symptoms first appeared or you were tested. 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. If you begin experiencing symptoms, you must self-isolate for 10 days and 72 hours after fever and symptoms subside. Individuals who are elderly or who have underlying health conditions may be at higher risk of serious illness and should contact their doctor as soon as they are sick.

An interactive dashboard is available that provides an overview on COVID-19 testing, cases and deaths along with maps and graphs showing testing, cases and death data by community poverty level, age, sex and race/ethnicity. To view Public Health’s COVID-19 Surveillance Dashboard, visit: http://dashboard.publichealth.lacounty.gov/covid19_surveillance_dashboard/ .

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