LA's COVID Surge Eases, Shifting County Out Of High Activity Category

LOS ANGELES, CA —Los Angeles County slipped out the federal government's "high" COVID-19 activity category, eliminating the threat of a return to mandatory masking for the time being.

New coronavirus hospitalizations had been climbing for months, threatening to overburden county hospitals, but hospitalizations began falling last month just days before a new mask mandate seemed likely. The trend is a bit of good news for a county grappling with both the pandemic and the spread of monkeypox.

A shortage of monkeypox vaccines prompted county health officials Thursday to announce plans for a newly approved method of administering smaller doses of the vaccine to increase in the availability of shots locally. In the meantime, coronavirus remains widespread across the county as hundreds of thousands of children return to school this month.

The seven-day daily rate of people testing positive for the virus was 12.3% as of Thursday. The county reported another 4,345 COVID-19 cases and another 15 virus-related fatalities Thursday.

Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer originally anticipated that the county would move back into the "medium" virus-activity category last week, but the average daily hospitalization rate remained at 10.1 per 100,000 residents in last week's CDC update.

That changed on Thursday, when updated CDC numbers put the county's hospitalization rate at 9.9 per 100,000 residents, just enough to move back into the "medium" category.

The move from high to medium will not have any practical effect for residents, since the county already opted against re-imposing the mandatory indoor mask-wearing mandate.

Masks are still required in some settings, including health care facilities, homeless shelters, aboard transit vehicles and at transit centers, along with correctional facilities.

According to state figures, there were 1,098 COVID-positive patients in county hospitals as of Thursday, down from 1,105 on Wednesday. Of those patients, 125 were being treated in intensive care units, up slightly from 122 on Wednesday.

County officials have said that roughly 43% of the COVID-positive patients admitted to hospitals were actually admitted for virus-related illness, while the others were admitted for other reasons, with some only learning they were infected when they were tested at the hospital.

City News Service. Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.