SANTA MONICA, CA – The Los Angeles County Director of Public Health on Monday applauded work by residents and businesses to slow the spread of COVID-19, noting that the county now meets five of the six six benchmarks for coronavirus monitoring .
But they warned that reckless behavior such as large gatherings, parties and church services could be threatened within that threatening effort.
“We know that a person can be positive for COVID-19 and be able to transmit the virus to others without ever having symptoms, or even being aware that they are infected,” said Barbara Ferrer. “When this person attends a gathering, especially indoors, where they socialize, eat, drink, potentially do not wear a face mask or distance themselves, they can easily infect many other people who are at the gathering doing the same.
“We have many examples here in our province and throughout the country of meetings, parties and services that have resulted in outbreaks of COVID-19,” she said. “We have seen outbreaks on university campuses, fraternal and sorority homes, restaurants, of our protests, churches and at public houses across the country and some of these meetings have resulted in tragic loss of life and serious illness.”
There have been 710 total cases of coronavirus reported in Santa Monica, according to health officials.
Ferrer declined to comment on specifications of a legal battle the province is waging with a Sun Valley church that defeated health officials on Sunday and held an indoor worship service. But she said such meetings are equally dangerous.
“We continue to extend our hand to every organization based on faith and do our utmost to help you and your communities find acceptable ways to worship outside,” she said. “Many houses of worship are already doing this and we thank you for your efforts. It is a wonderful show of community and care for our community.”
Ferrer continued to express general optimism about the positive trends in most coronavirus surveillance measures. She said the province now meets six of the state’s benchmarks, and only falls short in the rate of new cases, which stands at a 14-day daily average of 295 new cases per 100,000 residents. The state benchmark is 100 or less.
But Ferrer said the province meets other benchmarks for drops in hospitalizations, averaging seven days of positivity – now at 6%, testing capacity and availability of beds and ventilators for intensive care units.
Until the province can meet all six state banks, it will remain on the state’s monitoring list, which prevents the reopening of schools and many businesses. As of Monday morning, 42 of the 58 counties in the state were on the list, though San Diego County is expected to be removed Tuesday, according to Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Ferrer announced another 19 deaths on Monday from the virus, bringing the total to 5,273 since the start of the pandemic. They also reported 1,185 cases again, noting that the numbers of new cases and deaths are typically lower early in the week due to reduced testing and reporting over the weekend.
Long Beach announced 99 new virus cases on Monday, while Pasadena added three. Those cities both have their own health departments separate from the province.
The total number of countywide cases since the pandemic began was 223,233 on Monday.
Despite ongoing reporting of new cases and deaths, Ferrer praised the work of residents to follow restrictions by wearing face masks and exercising social distance.
“I hope this data reminds us all of the power that our actions have in preventing serious illness and saving lives, and again I just want to say how grateful I am to everyone who does their part to to ensure that we reduce the spread of COVID-19, “Ferrer said. “We still have ways to go to reduce the transfer of community enough to have the confidence that the timing would be right to open our schools and get more people back to work.
“We do not want community infections to return to our schools and create an increase in outbreaks which will then increase the amount of community transmission we will see.”
Santa Monica city officials are expanding a local emergency response until Aug. 31, in response to the ongoing pandemic and ongoing recovery efforts across the city. City Hall remains closed.
School campuses will also remain closed and school district officials have rescheduled the start date for Santa Monica students to August 24th. Students will begin the fall 2020 semester with distance education.
This is an evolving news story. Check back with Patch for more updates.
UPDATE: This article has previously mentioned 708 cases from Monday night. That number will be updated to 710 on Tuesday morning.
– City News Service and Patch Editor Nicole Charky contributed to this report.
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