Tuesday, February 16, 2021

L.A. County’s COVID-19 Case Rates Continue To Decline

Los Angeles County’s latest coronavirus numbers — 1,869 new cases and 29 additional deaths — represent a strong enough decline in case rates that elementary schools are expected to be permitted to reopen for in-class instruction as early as this week.

The number of coronavirus patients in county hospitals also continues to fall, dropping from 3,270 Sunday to 3,092 Monday, with 30% of those people in intensive care, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, which noted that the relatively low numbers could reflect reporting delays over the holiday weekend.

Updated figures released by California’s health department — which are a day ahead of the county — show that the number of county residents in the hospital with the coronavirus has now fallen below 3,000, at 2,964. The county’s hospitalization rate has dropped sharply since peaking at more than 8,000 in early January, and has declined 60% since Jan. 15.

The countywide unadjusted adult ICU bed occupancy was 86%.

The seven-day average for the county’s daily test positivity rate, which has also been steadily declining, dropped from 5.3% Sunday to 5.2%, down 64% in one month.

In-person instruction has been unavailable to the vast majority of the roughly 1.5 million students in public and private schools countywide since March 2020, but the state permits elementary schools to reopen as soon as counties reach an adjusted case rate of 25 per 100,000, a milestone Los Angeles health officials Monday said they expect to reach effective Tuesday.

The news means that schools could be permitted to offer in-class instruction for students in grades TK-6. All schools wishing to reopen must submit plans to the County Department of Public Health and the California Department of Public Health certifying that they have implemented a full range of safety measures to permit a safe reopening.

County Supervisor Janice Hahn sent out a celebratory tweet regarding the announcement.

“L.A. County has officially reached the state’s threshold for reopening elementary schools,” she wrote Monday. “Starting tomorrow (Tuesday), schools can reopen for grades K-6 if they have a waiver or submitted their COVID Safety Plans in advance…

“This is what we have been working towards,” she said. “Thank you to everyone who has worn your masks and kept your distance. Case rates in L.A. County are dropping. Now we can continue the work getting our kids and teachers safely back in classrooms where they belong.”

For Los Angeles Unified, the nation’s second-largest school system, district officials and the teachers union are in negotiations over a return to campuses. It’s unclear if either side is ready for in-person instruction to resume.

LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner announced Monday that the LAUSD’s first school-based COVID-19 vaccination center would open Wednesday at Roybal Learning Center at 1200 Colton St. near downtown Los Angeles. Moderna vaccines will be administered by LAUSD school nurses and other licensed health care professionals.

Meanwhile, with vaccine supplies still limited, the city and county of Los Angeles will reserve the majority of its available vaccinations this week to provide second doses for those ready to receive them, with county- operated large-scale sites exclusively administering second doses, health officials announced.

“The majority of appointments at our vaccinations sites will continue to be for second doses,” said Dr. Paul Simon, chief science officer for the county, said Friday. “We will only be providing second doses at our Mega- POD (point of dispending) sites.”

The county operated Mega-PODs are at the Pomona Fairplex, Magic Mountain, the Forum, the county Office of Education in Downey and Cal State Northridge.

Simon said first doses will be available at other locations, primarily at health centers, pharmacies “and other providers that serve the areas hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Monday that the city would be following a similar policy at its large-scale sites, including Dodger Stadium, which closed last week due to the shortage but is scheduled to reopen Tuesday.

The county has been receiving roughly 200,000 doses each week, although the actual amount has varied wildly week-to-week, making advance planning for reservations difficult.

The city is expected to receive just 54,000 doses of Moderna and 4,000 doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines this week. Garcetti said local leaders continue to advocate for a larger supply, and first-dose appointments would become available if the city receives more doses.

“We share their frustration,” Simon said. “We’re all frustrated. We know that we could do much more if we had more doses. For example, we’re now receiving about 200,000 doses each week, and as we’ve surveyed all of our providers, we’re confident that we could administer up to 600,000 doses a week. So we have much, much greater capacity if we can get the available vaccine.”

Two new sites in L.A. County will be offering first-dose appointments this week. The first site opened Monday at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, where appointments are available from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. this week. That site is a joint effort by Dignity Health, the LA Galaxy and Dignity Health Sports Park.

Another site will open Tuesday at Cal State Los Angeles, a joint effort by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the state of California.

Appointment for both sites can be made at myturn.ca.gov/.

Simon and county Health Officer Dr. Muntu Davis both said increasing supplies will be critical as more people become eligible for the shots — noting that the state plans to expand eligibility next month to all people aged 16 or over who have underlying medical conditions or disabilities that make them highly susceptible to death or severe illness from COVID-19.

This week’s second-dose appointments were automatically scheduled for Angelenos who received their first dose from January 18-23 at Hansen Dam, San Fernando Park, Crenshaw Christian Center, Lincoln Park and Dodger Stadium. Patients who qualify should have received a text message and/or an email with their second appointment details.

Davis recognized the generally improving downward trends in daily cases, but stressed that while the numbers are getting better, they’re still high, and “the risk of running into someone with COVID-19 who may not know it is still very high.”

Simon said that most recent figures show 1,345,949 doses have been administered in the county, with 1,047,074 of them first doses. A total of 13.5% of the county’s population aged 16 and over has received at least one dose, and 3.8% of that population is fully vaccinated.