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The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) has confirmed 262 new deaths and 6,492 new cases of confirmed COVID-19. The number of new cases and deaths reported today reflects the fact that testing sites were closed for the holiday weekend and there is slightly less testing capacity with the conversion of Dodger Stadium to a vaccination location. To date, Public Health has identified 1,038,092 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County and a total of 14,384 deaths.
Today is the first day that Public Health began expanding vaccinations to Los Angeles County residents 65 years and older. With almost 1.4 million residents aged 65 and older, and between 700,000-800,000 eligible healthcare workers, the number of vaccines required to complete two doses is over 4 million. Since doses first arrived 5 weeks ago on December 14, the county has received only 853,650 doses, including doses that arrived today.
Only a very limited number of vaccination appointments are currently available for frontline health care workers and county residents aged 65 years and older. Residents in this high-priority age group may receive communication from their health care provider with information about COVID-19 vaccinations and how to receive one through their provider. They can also visit VaccinateLACounty.com to schedule an appointment for vaccination once more appointments become available. For those without access to a computer or the internet, a call center is open daily from 8:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. to help schedule appointments at 833-540-0473. Individuals are encouraged to use the website whenever possible to sign up for an appointment to avoid long wait times on the phone.
Public Health has built, through a very successful public-private partnership, a robust system that is capable of vaccinating a large number of Los Angeles County residents in a safe, fair and equitable manner. This includes the five large-scale vaccination sites that opened yesterday, the city’s large-capacity site at Dodger Stadium, as well as community vaccination sites, pharmacies, federally qualified health clinics, medical providers and hospitals. However, given the very limited supply of doses coming into our county, the biggest challenge the county faces is not one of process or capacity, but of supply.
As of last week, from the total of 685,000 received doses, more than 384,000 total doses have been administered to those in Phase 1A. This includes more than 307,000 first doses and more than 87,000 second doses that have been administered. Additionally, vaccines have been delivered to all 340 skilled nursing facilities in Los Angeles County, and to date, more than 68 percent of all eligible residents received their first dose and 65 percent of staff. We have begun this week to administer second doses to those who received their first dose at the end of December.
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