COVID spike hits alarming levels in LA County with 10,000 cases a WEEK as Delta variant takes hold: Mask mandate returns in bid to stop the spread
- Los Angeles County reaches 'high community transmission' status with over 100 weekly cases per 100,000 residents
- More than 1,300 new cases and two deaths were reported Monday
- About one out of every eight people in the Southern California county has tested positive
- Spike is after county removed indoor mask mandate then quickly reinstalls it
- The spread of the Delta strain has pushed new US infections up 69.3% on a 7-day moving average
- Nearly every state witnessed a rise in infections in the last week with the Delta variant 60% of cases
Covid-19 cases in Southern California's Los Angeles County have spiked to more than 10,000 cases a week - an outbreak not seen since March - as the Delta variant continues to pose a threat.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health announced that the county saw more than 1,300 new positive cases and two deaths Monday.
The spike in cases comes after the county had removed its indoor mask wearing mandate.
Los Angeles County reinstated its indoor mask mandate on Sunday as the Delta variant has sent positivity rates surging
A tourist posed for a photo in Hollywood as people re-adapt to wearing their masks
A man wears his American flag face mask as he goes out into the streets of Hollywood on July 19
Infections have spiked nationwide, driven primarily by the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant first identified in India
The recommendations come just one month after California dropped its coronavirus restrictions. Above, shoppers in a Hollywood store on July 19
The Los Angeles Times found that Los Angeles County recorded an average of 101 weekly cases for every 100,000 residents this past month. That means the county has a 'high' community transmission status, as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A region must hit 100 or more weekly cases per 100,000 residents to be labeled as so.
So far, about one out of every eight people in the county has tested positive for the coronavirus.
The mandate was reinstated on Sunday after a 700% increase in cases due to the Delta variant.
The average number of daily new Covid cases was 32,278 last week - up 66% from the daily rate the week before, and a shocking 145% higher than two weeks ago, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The average number of daily new COVID-19 cases in the United States has tripled in the past 30 days.
The average number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 has also risen 21% over the past 30 days to over 19,000.
Almost 25,000 people are currently in hospital with Covid - a 26% increase from last week, CNN reports.
Average daily deaths, which can lag behind other indicators, rose 13% in the last week to 258.
Daily case numbers and the 7-day rolling average continue to rise in the United States
The U.S. continues to the lead the world in deaths from COVID-19
In California, cases involving the Delta variant made up 48.8% of all new cases recorded in the state in June, compared to just 6% in May.
The imposition of LA's indoor mask mandate came as health officials from eight Bay Area counties also recommended that vaccinated and unvaccinated residents wear masks indoors.
They said their recommendation was made 'out of an abundance of caution' as an 'added layer of protection for unvaccinated residents.'
Unvaccinated people are of particular risk to contracting the Delta variant, health experts say, as CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky warned that the current outbreak is becoming 'a pandemic of the unvaccinated' as most cases, hospitalizations and deaths are among people yet to take the shot while the nation's vaccination rollout has stalled.
About 53% of LA County residents are fully vaccinated while 60% have received at least one jab, the LA Times reported.
The case spike comes as the country's vaccination effort has stalled
More than 34.1 million total cases have been recorded
Dr. Jerome Adams, the former U.S. surgeon general, urged the CDC in a tweet to hold up LA County's mask policy as an example to stop telling people not to wear masks.
'The emerging data suggests CDC should be advising to vax it AND mask it in areas with [rising] cases and positivity—until we see numbers going back down again,' Adams wrote.
'The highly infectious Delta variant is now the predominant strain in Contra Costa County,' said county health officer Dr. Chris Farnitano. 'While vaccines remain our best tool against COVID-19, masking in indoor and crowded outdoor settings will help us curb the spread of this latest wave of infection.'
Perhaps most concerning is the spread of cases despite high vaccination rates in the Bay Area.
In San Francisco, for instance, 83% of its residents over 12 have received at least one dose of the vaccine with 76% of its population over 12 fully vaccinated.
Still, cases are on the rise, with a seven-day rolling average of 58 new cases recorded last week compared to a low of 10 in mid June.
'The Delta variant is spreading quickly, and everyone should take action to protect themselves and others against this potentially deadly virus,' Alameda County Health Officer Dr. Nicholas Moss told the San Francisco Chronicle.
'Unfortunately, even though we have very high rates of vaccination and the excellent protection that affords, we are still seeing our case rates rise,' Santa Clara County Assistant Health Officer Dr. Sarah Rudman told CBS SF Bay Area.
She said the variant had become a particular problem among the county's unvaccinated population, and that recommending everyone wear masks was to ensure the unvaccinated continue wearing masks.
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