COVID-19 Cases Among Healthcare Workers Increase; Public Health Confirms COVID-19 Death in a Child

LOS ANGELES — As high transmission of COVID-19 continues, cases among healthcare workers are now increasing. After months of reporting fewer than 50 new cases among healthcare workers per week, weekly cases increased to 295 cases for the week ending July 17 and 275 cases for the week ending July 24. Since the pandemic began, 42,296 healthcare workers and first responders have tested positive for COVID-19.

As of mid-June, 68% of surveyed healthcare workers in L.A. County hospitals were fully vaccinated and currently, 85% of skilled nursing facility staff are fully vaccinated.

Given these relatively high rates of vaccination, the county has not seen significant increases in deaths among healthcare workers. To date, 276 healthcare workers have tragically passed away from COVID-19, with almost all deaths occurring between July 2020 and February 2021. Since late-May, two healthcare workers passed away from COVID-19.   

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health or Public Health Aug. 4 confirmed 16 new deaths and 3,734 new cases of COVID-19.  Sadly, Public Health has confirmed one of today’s reported COVID-19 deaths is a young person under the age of 12. The child who passed away was hospitalized with COVID-19 and had underlying conditions.

To date, Public Health has identified 1,311,656 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County and a total of 24,720 deaths. Out of the nearly 25,000 total COVID-19 deaths, six children in L.A. County have died of COVID-19 infection: 2 children under 12 years old and 4 children between the ages of 12 and 17.

Of the 16 new deaths reported today, six people that passed away were over the age of 80, three people who died were between the ages of 65 and 79, three people who died were between the ages of 50 and 64, two people who died were between the ages of 30 and 49, one person who died was between the ages of 18 and 29, and one youth under the age of 18.

Testing results are available for nearly 7,381,000 individuals with 17% of people testing positive. Today’s test positivity rate is 6.0%. There are 1,242 people with COVID-19 currently hospitalized and 22% of these people are in the ICU. Daily hospitalizations continue to increase in L.A. County.

Details: www.publichealth.lacounty.gov.