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

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) has confirmed 38 new deaths and 1,414 new cases of 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19). Thirty-one people who died were over the age of 65 years old and seven people who died were between the ages of 41 and 65 years old. Thirty-two people had underlying health conditions including 26 people over the age of 65 years old and six people between the ages of 41 to 65 years old.

To date, Public Health has identified 79,609 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of LA County, and a total of 3,063 deaths. Ninety-three percent of people who died had underlying health conditions. Of those who died, information about race and ethnicity is available for 2,844 people (99 percent of the cases reported by Public Health); 42% of deaths occurred among Latino/Latinx residents, 29% among White residents, 17% among Asian residents, 11% among African American residents, less than 1% among Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander residents and 1% among residents identifying with other races. Upon further investigation, 32 cases and two deaths reported earlier were not LA County residents. There are 1,446 people who are currently hospitalized, 29% of these people are in the ICU and 21% are on ventilators. Testing capacity continues to increase in LA County, with testing results available for nearly 891,000 individuals and 8% of people testing positive.

“Our deepest sympathies go out to the many people across our county who have lost a loved one or friend to COVID-19,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “Since May 13, Public Health has been requiring that everyone wear a cloth face covering when in contact with others not in their household. A lot of questions are raised about why this is important, especially by individuals who are not worried about becoming infected themselves. The important issue here is that we are not asking you to wear the face covering to protect yourself. We ask you to cover your mouth and nose to protect others, especially since you can be infected with COVID-19 and have no illness symptoms; this is how you keep your respiratory droplets from reaching someone else. And even if you tested negative, that negative test only tells you your status the day you were tested. You could become infected the very next day and unknowingly pass on COVID-19 to others. If you were already positive for COVID-19, it is still not clear that you have immunity from the virus, which means you could become infected again and therefore pass along the virus to others. So please continue to always wear a cloth face covering when you are around anyone else, even if this is just passing by someone else.”

Public Health continues to assess indicators on the Recovery Dashboard to understand how COVID-19 is affecting communities and capacity to treat people who may become seriously ill. Based on data from the Recovery Dashboard and key recovery indicators, Public Health is noting that the 7-day average of deaths per day are decreasing across all races and ethnicities, however African Americans, Latinos/Latinx and Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders are still experiencing a disproportionate number of deaths from COVID-19. The average daily deaths were at their highest in early May at 45 or 46 deaths per day, and in early June, the average daily deaths range between 20 and 30. The daily number of hospitalizations has decreased as well, from peaks of over 1900 to now between 1350 to 1450 per day, although there is a slight increase in the last few days. LA County continues to be on target for maintaining adequate hospital capacity, including capacity in intensive care units and having an adequate numbers of ventilators, and meeting the goal of testing 15,000 people per day. The County is also on target for contacting tracing and other indictors found on the Recovery Dashboard.

A modified Health Officer Order and directives for the reopening of additional businesses was issued yesterday with an effective date of today, June 19. The Health Officer Order will allow for the following sectors to reopen once they implement the required protocols for infection control and distancing:

• Cardrooms, satellite wagering facilities and racetracks with no spectators
• Personal care services including: esthetician, skin care and cosmetology services; electrology; nail salons; body art professionals, tattoo parlors, microblading and permanent make-up; and piercing shops; and massage therapy
• Bars, wineries, breweries and tasting roomsThe Health Officer Order contains protocols for all businesses that are permitted to reopen to ensure it is done as safely as possible for employees, customers and residents; all sectors are reopening with reduced occupancy. Employees and visitors to these businesses will need to wear a cloth face covering when around other people and practice physical distancing of at least 6 feet at all times. Some employees may be required to wear face shields. It is important for everyone to follow the directives and to do their part every day to keep everyone as safe as possible. Businesses should take the time to put all of the protocols in place before reopening. The directives will be available online and are contained in sector-specific protocols that inform all re-openings.

  The Reopening Protocols, COVID-19 Surveillance Interactive Dashboard, Roadmap to Recovery, Recovery Dashboard, and additional things you can do to protect yourself, your family and your community are on the Public Health website, www.publichealth.lacounty.gov.

  Because this virus is still easily transmitted among people in contact with each other, the best protection against COVID-19 continues to be to wash your hands frequently, avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands, self-isolate if you are sick, practice physical distancing, and wear a clean face covering when in contact with others from outside your household. It’s important if someone thinks they could be positive for COVID-19 and are awaiting testing results, to stay at home and act as if they are positive. This means self-isolating for 10 days and 72 hours after symptoms and fever subside, or until they receive a negative result. If a person tests positive for COVID-19, they should plan on receiving a call from a contact tracer to discuss how to protect themselves and others, to find out where they may have been, and who they were in close contact with while infectious. People who have underlying health conditions remain at much greater risk for serious illness from COVID-19, so it will continue to be very important for the County’s vulnerable residents to stay at home as much as possible, to have groceries and medicine delivered, and to call their providers immediately if they have even mild symptoms.