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LA County Health Director: 'Immediate Action Is Necessary' To Slow Coronavirus Spread
Los Angeles County Public Health director Barbara Ferrer. (Robyn Beck / AFP via Getty Images)
Los Angeles County health officials are now reporting more than 2,000 new coronavirus cases, with the total number of known cases climbing to more than 105,000.
An additional 35 people have died from COVID-19, pushing the county's death toll to over 3,400.
Wednesday marks the fourth straight day where testing labs have confirmed more than 2,000 new cases.
Hospitalizations are now up to 1,900 (not including patients in Pasadena and Long Beach), which is the highest number in weeks. Of those, 27% are currently in intensive care.
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The Public Health Department has strong evidence that many outbreaks of the virus over the past few weeks can be traced back to parties and gatherings, L.A. County Public Health Director Ferrer said. She warned that celebrating the upcoming Fourth of July with a big get-together carries real risks this year.
"There have been a couple of times over the past five months where I've noted the need for us to collectively take more aggressive actions," Ferrer said, "and this is another one of those times. Immediate action is necessary in order for us to get back on track to slow the spread."
The county has received over 1.1 million COVID-19 test results, with 9% of those tests coming back positive. That's higher than the threshold set by the state, which is why the state government is pulling back on L.A. County and keeping the county from moving forward further with reopening businesses.
As of today, all county and L.A. city testing sites are completely booked for the rest of the week, since many of those locations will be closed on Friday and Saturday for the holiday weekend. If you need a COVID-19 test, health officials say you should be able to request one from your health care provider — but if you don't have one, you can call 211 to get connected with a community clinic with testing capabilities.
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