The Los Angeles Department of Public Health has confirmed two additional cases of the UK variant of COVID-19, totaling 14 total cases in LA County.
The new variant, classified as B.1.1.7, is known to be more contagious than the Wuhan strain of COVID-19. Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer urges even more caution with the potential rise of cases due to the newly introduced coronavirus variant. “With the U.K. variant circulating in the County, we will likely see more variant cases identified in the County. We must remain diligent with our safety measures even though we see overall decreases in cases, hospitalizations and deaths. Let’s keep our guard up because we know letting our guard down will lead to more cases and, tragically, more deaths again,” said Ferrer.
The Department of Public Health has also confirmed 136 deaths and 2,393 new cases of coronavirus in L.A. County. To date, the department has tallied 1,179,063 cases across all areas of LA county with 19,793 deaths.
There are currently 2,498 hospitalizations in L.A. County, a 30% decline from the 3,426 hospitalized the week before. Of all current hospitalizations, 30% are in the ICU.
Today’s positivity rate marked 3.8%, a drop of 1.5% from the last week’s rate of 5.3%.
Residents under 50 years old constitute 64% of the new coronavirus cases reported today, with residents between the ages of 18 to 49 years old driving most of these cases. Residents 65 and older represent 71% of the reported deaths even though they make up just 15% of the new cases.
COVID-19 Daily Update:
February 20, 2021
New Cases: 2,393 (1,179,063 to date)
New Deaths: 136 (19,793 to date)
Current Hospitalizations: 2,498 pic.twitter.com/tgLJi3C9BI— LA Public Health (@lapublichealth) February 20, 2021