Los Angeles County COVID risk level decreased on 01/20/2023
Los Angeles County has made good progress in reducing COVID-19 transmission and hospitalizations, returning to the CDC designated Low Community Level this week for the first time since November 2022.
By News Desk
The 7-day average case rate has dropped to 71 new cases per 100,000 people. The 7-day total for new COVID-19 hospital admissions per 100,000 people is 9.5 and the 7-day average of the proportion of staffed inpatient beds occupied by COVID-19 patients is 5.8%.
Now that L. A. County is in the Low Community Level, masking for people at indoor sites is an individual preference with these exceptions:
- Masking is always required in healthcare and congregate care settings, per the state health officer order.
- Indoor masking is required for anyone exposed to COVID-19 for 10 days after their last exposure to a confirmed case.
- Everyone should mask where it is required by the site, including businesses, schools, and workplaces.
Masking remains strongly recommended on public transit, and in all indoor spaces for people who are at elevated risk for severe illness or death from COVID-19, and for those who may be exposed to large numbers of people in their job or work in very crowded places. A high quality, well-fitting, respirator mask, such as an N95, KN95, or KF94, provides the best protection.
However, with elevated risks of severe illness, hospitalization, and death for people who are more vulnerable, and to remain at the lower community level, residents should continue to consider using appropriate protective measures including masking when indoors, seeking treatment when ill, and getting the updated bivalent booster.
Vaccines Provide Significant Protection
The bivalent booster, widely available in Los Angeles County since September, provides increased protection against the COVID-19 Omicron variant.
Mounting research and clinical evidence has shown that vaccines provide significant protection from severe illness. In Los Angeles County, people who were unvaccinated were nearly seven times more likely to be hospitalized and nine times more likely to die from COVID-19 than people who were fully vaccinated and received the bivalent booster.
Hospitalization rates for the 30-day-period ending Jan. 3 were more than three times higher for people who were unvaccinated compared to people who were vaccinated without the updated booster. For those vaccinated without the updated booster, hospitalizations were 2.2 times higher than for people who had additionally received the updated booster.
Similar comparisons for death rates over the 30-day-period ending Dec. 27 are also quite sobering. People who were unvaccinated had death rates that were more than four times greater than people who were vaccinated without the updated bivalent booster. And, for people who were vaccinated without the updated booster, the rate of death was more than two times higher than people who had received the updated bivalent booster.
Just 22% of eligible people in Los Angeles County have received the updated booster.
Leave a Reply