LA Pregnant Woman Dies Of COVID-19 Amid Fear Of Second Wave

LOS ANGELES, CA — Los Angeles County lost its first pregnant woman and unborn child to the coronavirus, health officials announced Monday. The tragic news comes as civil unrest poses a new threat to the efforts to halt the spread of the disease. Health officials worry that the protests erupting across the county could prove to be "super-spreading" in which infected demonstrators spread the virus to dozens of others.

"Peaceful protests are so important, but I ask you all to look out for each other when coming together," county public health director Barbara Ferrer said. "While you're out with others, please wear cloth face coverings. As much as possible, please practice physical distancing, keeping six feet apart from everyone else.

"There's a lot of risk of these gatherings becoming super-spreader events -- that is events where a great deal of transmission of the COVID-19 virus is happening. We'll need to work together to prevent these events from resulting in many more people becoming seriously ill from COVID-19. Please care for and protect all of the people around you."

Looting and rioting prompted officials to close testing centers across Los Angeles County, ensuring a disruption to the effort to trace and report the outbreak. The demonstrators are protesting against police brutality and racial injustice, a factor in the outsized impact the virus is having on communities of color. Minorities are dying at higher rates than whites and losing employment at higher rates.

Los Angeles County elected and health officials Monday urged residents to heed curfew restrictions amid continuing protests over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, while also expressing concern about crowded demonstrations leading to a spike in coronavirus cases.

Ferrer and County Supervisor Kathryn Barger both noted that given the 14-day incubation period for the coronavirus, the effects of the mass protests on the county's COVID-19 crisis won't be known for weeks.

"My biggest concern now is ... in two to three weeks, what is going to happen based on the conduct of individuals over the weekend," Barger said. "And we don't know. And we're going to be watching very closely."

Ferrer on Monday announced another 22 deaths due to the coronavirus, raising the county's total to 2,384. She also announced another 978 cases of the illness, pushing the total to 55,968.

Ferrer also confirmed the county's first known case of a jail inmate due to the virus. She also announced four more deaths among the county's homeless population, raising the number of homeless who have died from the virus to 11.

Ferrer said the total number of health care workers who have contracted the virus was 5,398, up 537 from last week. She said 39 health care workers have died from the illness, up nine from last Monday.

Barger noted the devastating impact weekend violence had on county businesses, many of which were just beginning to reopen under loosened coronavirus health restrictions. She and Ferrer noted that the unrest in the county has not changed health restrictions, and businesses are still permitted to reopen as long as they meet guidelines to control capacity and protect customers and employees.

But many businesses have been ordered to close their doors due to curfews imposed by the county and individual cities in response to protests.

Ferrer stressed as much as possible the need for people taking part in those protests -- or gathering at any location -- to take precautions against spreading the virus.

"When I look and I see people on the beach that are really close together without face coverings or people on boardwalks that are really close together without face coverings or people that are peacefully protesting without face coverings, I'm going to be worried," she said. "And you should be worried as well.

"We need to keep as much distance from each other when we're out and about and we need to wear our face coverings, and that's how we get through the pandemic," she said. "So when we see examples where that's not happening, its a cause for concern, and from my perspective it's also a reminder to each of us that we can help other people remember how to be respectful and kind to each other by using those cloth face coverings."

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