Daily Los Angeles County coronavirus case numbers continued to drop on Sunday, but health officials remained concerned about the recent detection of more contagious variants in the region and the potential for Super Bowl encounters to trigger another outbreak.
The county’s Department of Public Health announced 3,123 new cases of coronavirus and 89 related deaths, some of the lowest numbers reported in recent days. The number of daily admissions and the positivity rate – an average of seven days – have also decreased steadily over the past week. But health officials warned that the decline in both categories may be due in part to delays in reporting.
To date, more than 1.1 million confirmed cases of coronavirus have been reported among county residents, including 464,000 in the city of Los Angeles. Sunday’s announcement raises the total death toll in the county since the pandemic began to more than 18,000.
Despite recent declines in coronavirus numbers, officials remain concerned that trends are still higher than levels before the increase last year, and they continued to ask residents to avoid exposing friends, family and co-workers to the disease.
Another concern is the increase in the most contagious and possibly deadly strain of coronavirus first identified in Britain, B.1.1.7, which has grown considerably in San Diego County, which has probably resulted in a death there and at least 137 confirmed cases.
In addition to the county of San Diego, the United Kingdom strain has also been identified in the counties of Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Alameda and San Mateo, including between two UC Berkeley students who recently came from abroad to the USA.
Barbara Ferrer, director of public health for Los Angeles County, said she was concerned that Super Bowl Sunday parties could turn into oversized events. She urged residents to remain vigilant, virtually connecting or watching the game with members of their immediate family.
The county’s Department of Health Services, which runs a network of hospitals and clinics, released a video on Twitter urging residents to act responsibly during the Super Bowl. The video promoted the #nosuperspreadersunday hashtag on twitter.
“Any Super Bowl player will say that the best offense is a strong defense, so do your part this weekend and score a win for LA County,” said Sandra Pineda, a county pharmacist.
According to the latest county restrictions, private meetings are limited to 15 people from a maximum of three families. They must also be outdoors and all participants must wear masks and keep their distance from others. Restaurants, which were allowed to reopen for al fresco dining at the end of last month, are prohibited from having televisions available to customers.
“Despite seeing some declines, we continue to have widespread community broadcast in our county,” said Ferrer ahead of the weekend festivities.
The supply of the COVID-19 vaccine remains limited, with those currently eligible being health workers, nursing home residents and people over 65. For information about vaccines in LA County, visit the public health department website.
Meanwhile, Orange County health officials reported 1,187 new cases of coronavirus and 46 additional deaths on Sunday, bringing the county total to 238,264 cases and 3,358 deaths.
Times staff writers Luke Money, Sean Green and Rong-Gong Lin II contributed to this report.