Los Angeles County continued to approach the orange level for new COVID-19 infections this week, reporting a daily average of 576 cases in the past seven days, a 62 percent reduction from just two weeks ago.
If the county – which is the largest in California, with 10 million inhabitants – can continue on its current path, further restrictions on social distance would be lifted or eased in a range of businesses, including restaurants, cinemas, museums and shopping centers.
Currently at the red level, LA County can reach the orange mark as early as the first week of April if it can keep its case rate below 3.9 per 100,000 residents for two consecutive weeks. This week, the average daily COVID-19 infections dropped to 3.7 per 100,000.
This reduction was possible in part with the arrival of vaccines. To date, LA County has administered 3.7 million doses of the inoculation that has proven highly effective in preventing COVID-19. Approximately 15.6 percent of the county’s population has been fully vaccinated.
On Thursday, Governor Gavin Newsom announced that until April 15, Californians aged 16 and over could be vaccinated. This news puts the state’s vaccination efforts ahead of President Biden’s goal of having vaccines available to all American adults by May 1.
But Governor Gavin Newsom warned that even with declining numbers, increasing vaccination opportunities and progression to levels, it is not a “mission accomplished” for the state, as officials continue to monitor variants from the UK, Brazil, South Africa South, New York and California itself.
“This is no time to let your guard down or literally, as is the case, to take off your mask. The most potent and powerful thing you can do is to use facial coverage, ”said Newsom. “We will work in the coming weeks until we reach this place of abundance, moving away from the scarcity mentality, where we can start to reopen the economy significantly without the kind of changes we are currently experiencing.”
Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer agreed with Newsom’s sentiments.
“We are committed to everyone to move forward and we are excited about this opportunity to stay on the recovery journey,” said Ferrer during the COVID-19 briefing on Wednesday. “But we have to do it in a way that doesn’t compromise security and we have to do it in a way that pay attention to what our numbers are doing and what we are seeing in other states and other countries and to be sensible as you move on . “
Pressure to lift coronavirus restrictions has been gaining momentum across the country, although only 36 percent of US adults have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. At a news conference on Thursday, Biden announced that his government had revised its vaccination targets to 200 million doses by April 30 in order to try to contain the virus.
“I know it’s ambitious,” said Biden. “Twice our original goal. But no other country in the world has come close – or even close – to what we are doing. And I believe that we can do that. “
According to an Axios-Ipsos survey published on Tuesday, the number of people who went out to eat or visit friends and family increased by 12 and 9 percentage points, respectively, in the last month. Twenty-three percent of people said they believe that dining out poses a major risk to health and well-being, up from 33% a month ago. Forty-eight percent of Americans surveyed said they had visited friends or relatives, the highest number since October. In addition, 55 percent said they had visited a non-grocery retail store, the highest number since May.
The survey also shows that 59 percent of people believe that returning to pre-pandemic life represents a large or moderate risk to health and well-being. This represents a drop of 7 points compared to last month and 11 points compared to the end of 2020.
On Wednesday, the United States reported nearly 80,000 new cases of COVID-19, more than enough, health experts say, to maintain the pandemic and allow the virus to continue mutating.
“The continued relaxation of prevention measures, while cases are still high and while variants are spreading rapidly across the United States, is a serious threat to the progress we have made as a nation,” said the director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. , Dr. Rochelle Walensky at a press conference last week.
In LA County, only 666 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported today. In early January, that number reached 16,800.
“With the increase in the supply of vaccines and the expansion of eligibility for more Californians, the light at the end of the tunnel continues to grow brighter,” said Newsom on Thursday.
Even so, California Secretary of Health and Human Services, Dr. Mark Ghaly, was quick to add: “We are not there yet. It will take some time to vaccinate all eligible Californians. During this time, we must not let our guard down. “
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