Hopes that a wider reopening of Los Angeles County’s economy could come in time for the holidays appear to be fading, as the region continues to see a steady uptick in the average number of daily coronavirus infections.
While the spike is nowhere near as severe as those in other parts of the country, L.A. County’s seven-day average has increased from 940 new cases a day in early October to more than 1,275 each day as of last week, health officials said.
L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer announced 1,406 new COVID-19 cases Monday, following 1,590 on Sunday. The county’s total now tops 310,000.
The county typically reports fewer new cases on Sunday and Monday because of reporting lags over the weekend, “so, if that trend holds true, we’re going to see higher numbers the rest of the week,” Ferrer said during a briefing.
“Our cases are, at best, stabilizing at a high number,” she said. “At worst, they’re going to go up.”
Any increase in the coronavirus case load threatens to push the county further from being able to more widely reopen businesses and other public facilities.
In California’s four-tier reopening roadmap, L.A. County remains firmly in the most restrictive Tier 1 (purple). Counties in that category have an average of more than seven new infections for every 100,000 residents, or the percentage of tests that detect the virus is more than 8%.
Case rates are adjusted to account for how much testing is being done. L.A. County’s adjusted case rate increased last week to 8 from 7.6 the week before.
To progress to a less-restrictive tier, a county must meet the next tier’s criteria for two straight weeks. Given the direction L.A. County is heading, it’s “unlikely, then, in the next two weeks that we make any movement,” Ferrer said.
She stressed, though, that the decisions residents make today are significant in determining whether the county moves forward. Choosing to follow health protocols — maintaining physical distance, wearing face coverings in public, washing hands regularly and avoiding gatherings beyond one’s immediate household — can help the county get back on the right path.
“While it’s easy to believe that the virus won’t spread among your families and friends, and that none of you are infected, there are so many examples that prove otherwise,” Ferrer said.
While residents may be growing weary of following the same guidance that has been in place for months, adhering to infection prevention measures is the key to moving closer to normalcy, Ferrer said.
“This is a pandemic of a magnitude we have never experienced in our lifetimes, and the faster we get it under control, the faster we return to being able to do the types of things we love to do,” she said.
