For the second day in a row, Los Angeles County health officials on Monday reported no new COVID-19 deaths.
Although that's a positive sign, officials say it also reflects the usual reporting delays that occur over weekends. The county's COVID-19 tallies on new cases and deaths are typically much lower on Sundays and Mondays compared to other days of the week.
But Barbara Ferrer, the county public health director, says even with that delay, fewer Angelenos are now dying of the disease.
"I want there to be a real day where we can go back and we do the episode date, what day did people die, and we actually had days where nobody really died," Ferrer said. "I think we're close to getting there. I hope we're close."
As of last week, L.A. County was averaging four to five new deaths a day. In March, we averaged more than 20 deaths a day. That means we saw an 80% decrease during the month of April.
Nearly 24,000 people have died of COVID-19 in L.A. County since March of 2020.
