LOS ANGELES (CelebrityAccess) — While most people, particularly in the live events industry, are eager to get back to normal after spending the last 15 months largely shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the virus appears to not be quite ready call it a day.
On Thursday, public health officials in Los Angeles County revealed that new cases there are surging, with 839 new infections reported in last seven days, a 165% increase from the previous week.
That pushes the county’s daily average case rate to 3.5 cases per 100,000 people, an increase from last week’s rate of 1.74 cases per 100,000. The daily positivity rate has also spiked, hitting 2.5% on Thursday, up more than 100% from last week’s rate of 1.2%.
Public health officials pointed to the more infectious Delta variant as a key driver of the new surge in infections and that Delta is now the most commonly sequenced variety of COVID-19 seen in the county since the beginning of June.
Los Angeles County’s roughly four million unvaccinated residents are also helping to spread the virus with just 0.06% of all fully vaccinated people testing positive for COVID-19.
“The data makes it increasingly clear that vaccines remain the most important tool we have to keep COVID-19 transmission and the incubation of variants low. Overall COVID-19 trends are going in the wrong direction for everyone, and are particularly concerning given the proliferation of the Delta variant. The most powerful way to protect those in hard-hit communities, many of whom are essential workers, is to close vaccination gaps,” said Doctor Barbara Ferrer, the county’s Director of Public Health.
