LA County New COVID Case Rate Holds Steady After Weeks Of Decline

Wednesday, April 7, 2021

Los Angeles County’s weeks-long decline in new COVID-19 case rates has stalled with the release of updated state figures, confirming the county will be unable to advance to the less-restrictive yellow tier of the economic reopening blueprint for three weeks or more.

The state’s weekly update of county-by-county figures, released Tuesday, put Los Angeles County’s seven-day average daily rate of new COVID-19 infections at 3.1 per 100,000 residents, the same level as last week.

The number leaves the county firmly entrenched in the orange tier of the state’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy, which governs business and recreational restrictions during the pandemic. The county officially entered the orange tier last week, but did not ease its health-order restrictions until Monday.

Advancing to the yellow tier — which would allow a further loosening of capacity restrictions at most businesses — originally required counties to have an average daily new case rate of less than 1 per 100,000 residents. That threshold, however, was eased Tuesday to less than 2 per 100,000 residents, thanks to the state meeting the goal of 4 million COVID vaccine doses administered in low-income communities hard hit by the pandemic.

At 3.1 new cases per 100,000 residents, Los Angeles County is still well short of the yellow tier level.

County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said Monday she did not expect the county to reach the yellow-tier level this week. She reiterated the point Tuesday morning while addressing the county Board of Supervisors.

She also said she anticipated a leveling off of the county’s rate of new cases, despite several weeks of significant drops, telling the board the metrics likely “will not change significantly this week or next.”

To advance to the yellow tier, the county’s case rate would have to fall below 2 per 100,000 residents and remain there for two consecutive weeks. That means the earliest Los Angeles County could now qualify for a move would be three weeks — or four weeks if Ferrer’s prediction about next week’s numbers is accurate.

The state updates the county-by-county statistics every Tuesday.

https://mynewsla.com/business/2021/04/07/la-county-new-covid-case-rate-holds-steady-after-weeks-of-decline-3/

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LA County New COVID Case Rate Holds Steady After Weeks Of Decline