LA County posts another 10,025 new COVID-19 infections over 3-day period

Los Angeles County recorded another 10,025 new COVID-19 infections over a three-day period ending on Monday. Aug. 15, while also logging another 26 virus-related fatalities.

The county Department of Public Health reported 14 deaths from Saturday, seven on Sunday and five on Monday. It also reported 4,869 new infections from Saturday, 3,262 on Sunday 1,894 on Monday.

The county no longer reports COVID numbers on weekends. The number of new COVID infections reported each day by the county is believed to be an undercount of actual virus activity, since many people use at-home tests, the results of which are not always reported to the county.

The new cases gave the county a cumulative total from throughout the pandemic of 3,361,061, while the death toll rose to 32,948. The average daily rate of people testing positive for the virus was 10.1% as of Monday.

An updated number of COVID-positive hospital patients in the county was not immediately available. As of Saturday, the most recent day for which figures are available, there were 1,059 virus-positive patients in Los Angeles County hospitals. That was down slightly from Friday, continuing a steady downward trend from the past few weeks.

Of those patients hospitalized as of Saturday, 118 were being treated in intensive care, down from 120 the previous day.

County officials have said that roughly 43% of the COVID-positive patients were actually admitted for virus-related illness, while the others were admitted for other reasons, with some only learning they were infected when they were tested at the hospital.

The county moved into the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s “medium” virus-activity category on Thursday, when the average daily rate of people being admitted to hospitals for COVID reasons fell —barely — below 10 per 100,000 residents. CDC figures put the county’s virus-related admission rate at 9.9 per 100,000 residents.

That was good enough to escape the “high” category, which the county entered in mid-July, raising the possibility of another indoor mask mandate. The county ultimately opted against the new mandate, citing steadily improving infection and hospitalization numbers.

Masks are still required in some settings, including health care facilities, homeless shelters, aboard transit vehicles and at transit centers, along with correctional facilities.