LA County reports 18,158 new COVID-19-related cases, 39 deaths in the last 24 hours since Saturday

Los Angeles County confirmed more than 18,000 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours the Department of Public Health reported on July 11, Monday and continues the daily brutal reminder of the disease's transmission as the nationwide indoor mask deadline is nearer to being reinstated.

The Director of Public Health Barbara Ferrer warned during a public forum this week that a new indoor mask law could be in place before July 29 if county's population continues to rise.

The indoor mask rule will be reinstated when the county is in that "high" community transmission tier according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The numbers that were released on Monday confirm the county's suspicions that the omicron subvariants BA.4 as well as BA.5 are fueling a rapid increase in casesand this is compounded by an increase of gatherings in person that took place during the holiday weekend of the Fourth of Fourth of July weekend.

DPH on Monday announced 18,158 new COVID-19 cases as well as 39 deaths have been reported from Saturday, increasing the countywide number from the beginning of the epidemic to 3,178,242 and 32,451 respectively.

LA county has reported another 6,416 new cases on July 8, and 18 death reports -- which is the most single-day death toll since March 30 DPH stated.

The figures reported on Monday may be undercounted because of the delay in reporting on holidays and weekends the department claimed. The use of home COVID-19 tests also contributes to the low count, since those results are not provided to DPH.

However more than 12.2 million LA County residents were tested for COVID-19 between Saturday and Monday, the county announced with 23% being positive.

LA county LA county reported an overall total of 32,085 new COVID-19 cases between July 1 until the 7th of July on Thursday. The new cases reported since the 8th of July, Friday, are expected to exceed this number if the numbers continue to rise this week.

BA.4 and the BA.4 as well as the BA.5 subvariants were responsible for almost 40% of the sequenced samples from LA County as of Friday officials stated and according to CDC estimates that they are responsible for 70% of all cases all over the nation.

However, despite their potential for transmission and the ability to avoid immunity completely vaccination and boosted people who have an illness in the past are at risk of catching new infections that are breakthrough -- BA.4 as well as BA.5 have a lower chance to trigger serious illness and death as their predecessors did, authorities have claimed.

The numbers, however they are not guaranteed to bring the county closer being in into the "high" community transmission tier however DPH is yet to confirm this status due to the slowness in reporting data.

The criteria to determine the transmission of a particular county as defined by the CDC can be threefold the following: New COVID-19 patients per 100,000 residents in the last seven days, hospitalizations with COVID-19 per 100,000 residents within the past seven days, as well as the percentage of hospital beds that are occupied by patients suffering from COVID-19.

Although all three variables are crucial, DPH officials have repeatedly mentioned the number of hospital admissions for COVID-19 as an indicator of making a decision about the region's CDC transmission stage.

LA County was still in the "medium" virus activity level at the time of writing on July 7th, with the seven-day average of COVID-19-related hospital admissions being 8.4 for every 100,000 inhabitants. The county will be in"high" if it reaches the "high" category if that number exceeds 10 admissions for every 100,000 inhabitants.

The county was set to achieve that prestigious distinction on Thursday on July 14, Ferrer stated this week, however, Ferrer stressed that it was only an estimate that could shift significantly based on admissions data in the days ahead.

The health department said there were 2 035 hospitalized patients across the county on Friday and Saturday who confirmed positive for COVID-19However, DPH has not yet released figures for the two following days, due to delays in reports.

Although the DPH declined to provide any information on the most recent figures however, a spokesperson for the department said via email that the latest information on hospitalization statistics as well as the community-based transmission tier are likely to be revealed at the weekly COVID-19 update scheduled for Thursday.