Los Angeles County reopens more widely in October, official says deadline

Los Angeles County will open more widely sometime in October, the county’s director of public health said Wednesday. But, Barbara Ferrer warned, the number of days after labor could potentially thwart the move.

LA County is one of the most restrictive or “purple” levels of California’s four-tier virus-tracking roadmap. The county already has a low seven-day average test positivity rate – about t.2% – to go to a less restrictive level, but the average number of new cases is still very high, currently at 1.1 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. Is. The state’s threshold for advancing to the less restricted “red” level is 7 cases per 100,000.

New: California is launching a blueprint for a safer economy.

It’s easy.

Color will be assigned to your county based on:
– Case rate
– Positivity rate

Your color determines how businesses can operate in your county.

Find your color and what’s open ➡️ https://t.co/xtXFwVeWc2 pic.twitter.com/fFXR7rbtU1

– Gavin News (વિ Gavin News) August 28, 2020

Ferrer said numbers in all categories have been on a downward trend for the past six weeks, following a spike seen after the July 4 holiday week.

“If we do not see cases involving activities above Labor Day and hospital admissions and we continue to reduce the rate of community transmission in the coming weeks, we could enter Tier 2, which is sometimes a less restrictive level in restric October. , ”Ferrer said.

This comes after Ferrer was shaken last week over comments on a conference call with academics.

“We have no real idea that we will go in two phases [red] Or our K-Thru-12 schools at least during the election, at least after the election, after the reopening, you know, as early as November, ”Ferrer said on a call, the recording of which was first received by KFI Radio. And was broadcast.

Ferrer then denied on Tuesday that the plan to close the LA school campus amid a coronavirus epidemic was politically motivated and aimed at undermining President Donald Trump’s election chances.

Considered by that lens, Ferrer’s most recent statement seems to take a surprising turn.

Health officials have repeatedly said they will not consider more professional recovery in the county from now on, at least by the end of September – after determining whether there are cases of the virus and hospitalization after Labor Day holiday weekend – which they did after Memorial Day and the fourth of July. .

If the county drops below its average new case number of 7 per 100,000 inhabitants, and maintains that level for two weeks, LA will be able to move into the state’s “red” level. This will potentially allow the reopening of more businesses, including movie theaters and gyms, as well as school campuses for personal education.

Ferrer said the county is now seeing the lowest average testing-positivity rate of the epidemic.

“Last week, we saw the lowest positivity rate ever, about 4.4%.” “This means that about 97% of the tests people took for COVID-19 turned out to be negative. Just a month ago, in mid-August, the rate was about 5%. So we are happy to see the progress we have made and we hope that this number will continue to decline. “

Of course, the county’s test numbers are also low.

The county’s director of health services, Dr. The overall number of tests fell last week, said Christina Gali, in part due to the closure of some test centers due to poor air quality caused by wildfires in the region. He said some test sites have two-thirds of his appointment slots available.

The number of daily cases halved from more than 20,000 tests a day in early July to 9,772 on Wednesday, a 7-day daily average.

Ferrer again warned that the impact of the Labor Day holiday weekend, the number of cases, has yet to be tolerated, as the virus has a 14-day incubation period. He also said that the upcoming autumn and winter holidays, including the start of Rosh Hashanah this weekend, could shock people if they become unconscious about social distance and other preventive measures.

“The fall and winter months are full of special times that we are all looking forward to.” “There are many secular and religious holidays that we usually celebrate by spending time with our friends and extended family members. And the epidemic has been difficult and frustrating in many ways, putting limits on what we can safely celebrate. I encourage all of us now to think about how we want to change our plans so that we can share the joy of the holidays while reducing the risk of contracting a dangerous and sometimes fatal virus. “

Galileo urged people to take flu shots, noting that with the onset of the flu season, people who contract both influenza and COVD-19 become seriously ill.

There have been 31 coronavirus-related deaths reported in the county on Wednesday, although one of them was reported Tuesday by Long Beach health officials. Long Beach announced two additional deaths Wednesday afternoon. The total death toll in the county as of Wednesday was 6,305.

Data show LA County has made steady progress against COVID-19; 31 new deaths and 1,148 confirmed new positive cases # COVID-19 In Los Angeles County.
See https://t.co/uSs6osB7FW for more pic.twitter.com/gkh4vtKLgp

– LA Public Health (lapublichealth) September 17, 2020

The county also announced 1,148 newly confirmed cases, with 40 cases joining Long Beach and 6 reported by Pasadena, bringing the total to 256,194 since the epidemic began.

As many as 804 people have been hospitalized in the county since Tuesday due to COVID-19. Galileo noted that the trend towards a sharp decline in hospital admissions in the past month seems to be slowing or equalizing. But until then the number of hospital admissions was at a dramatic level compared to a month ago.

City News Service contributed to this report.