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| The number of new cases and test positivity rates increased again this past week. The average number of daily new cases reported the last seven days increased to 960, a 23% increase from the average of 783 daily new cases the previous seven days. This past week, reported cases in LA county increased an average of 3.2% per day. And while today’s test positivity at 1.0% remains very low, it has been inching up these past couple of weeks. COVID-19 hospitalization numbers remain stable with 265 patients currently hospitalized and deaths remain low, reflecting the relatively stable hospitalization numbers. Sadly, other communities in the country, including New York City, have started to see small increases in hospitalizations a few weeks after their recent rise in case numbers, reflecting past patterns where, within a couple of weeks of increasing case numbers, hospitalizations start to rise, followed, tragically, by increases in deaths. With increased transmission across the County, being up to date on vaccines and boosters offers protection against severe illness and death. For the week ending March 25, unvaccinated people were five times more likely to be hospitalized compared to fully vaccinated residents. And the likelihood of dying for those unvaccinated was also higher. For the week ending March 18, unvaccinated residents were eight times more likely to die than residents who were fully vaccinated. |
