Los Angeles is still seeing widespread COVID transmissions among the unvaccinated, and has begun to offer booster shots to the immunocompromised to keep coronavirus infections at bay.
This past weekend, Los Angeles County became one of the first and largest counties in the country to begin administering booster vaccines to immunocompromised residents to prevent the highly contagious Delta variant. This program comes as the federal government is reportedly about to recommend booster shots for all who have already received two-dose vaccines.
L.A. County reported 30 coronavirus fatalities on Tuesday, August 17, 2021. At the current rate the county is likely to reach the tragic milestone of 25,000 coronavirus deaths by this weekend. With the enormous majority of the cases unvaccinated, the latest losses are utterly avoidable, as county health officials have empahsized.
The 30 latest deaths put the countywide death toll from the pandemic to 24,935. The number of people hospitalized with COVID jumped to 1,754, according to state figures, up from 1,679 on Monday. There were 397 people being treated in intensive care, down from 402 a day ago.
The county Department of Public Health logged another 2,907 COVID infections, noting that the number may still be low due to continued delays in reporting from the weekend. The total number of cases confirmed throughout the pandemic rose to 1,355,698.
The average rate of people testing positive for the virus in the county was 3.5% as of Tuesday, nearly half the rate from two weeks ago. This is a sign that mask mandates are working, and tomorrow will see an even stronger mandate for all indoor and outdoor gatherings.
People getting their initial vaccinations are reminded that full immunity does not take place until two full weeks after the second shot – and that immunity may not include the Delta variant.
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