Los Angeles County health officials estimate that one out of every 145 people in the county is now infected with the coronavirus and transmitting it to other people
According to estimates released on Wednesday, every COVID-19 patient in Los Angeles County is passing the virus to an average of 1.27 other people – the highest transmission rate the county has seen since March, before any safety protocols such as face coverings and social distancing were in place.
In order to curb the pandemic, the transmission rate must be below one, meaning that each person infected passes it to less than one other person.
As always, officials stress the importance of wearing face covering, practicing social distancing and avoiding gatherings of large numbers of people as the most effective way to curb the spread of the virus.
West Hollywood recorded seven new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, while Los Angeles County reported 4,311 new cases.
The county’s daily cases of COVID-19 have sharply increased in the past four weeks. From November 1 to Wednesday (Nov. 25), the seven-day average of daily reported cases increased from 1,393 to 4,381.
Because of that high rate, county officials have ordered that restaurants, bars, wineries and breweries can no longer offer in-person dining, effective Wednesday at 10 p.m. Take-out orders and deliveries will still be allowed. This ban on in-person dining will last a minimum of three weeks, but could be extended if the daily COVID numbers don’t decline quickly.
If the number of new cases continues to rise, the county will most likely issue a new Safer at Home order closing all non-essential businesses, as happened in March with the original Safer at Home lockdown.
Some 107 more people were hospitalized with COVID-19 in the county on Wednesday than on Tuesday. There are currently 1,682 people with COVID-19 hospitalized and 25% of these people are in the ICU. On November 1, the average daily number of people hospitalized for COVID-19 was 791.
West Hollywood now has a cumulative total of 900 coronavirus cases since the pandemic began in March. Los Angeles County has a cumulative total of 379,323 cases.
West Hollywood had no new deaths to report on Wednesday. The city has a cumulative total of eight deaths related to COVID-19 since the pandemic began.
Los Angeles County reported 49 new deaths on Wednesday. The county’s cumulative total of deaths now stands at 7,543.
Of today’s 49 new deaths, 43 people had underlying health conditions. Of those 49 new deaths, the county provided age demographics for 45 of them:
- 18 people were over 80 years old.
- 16 people were between 65 and 79 years old.
- 8 people were between 50 and 64 years old.
- 2 people were between 30 and 49 years old.
- 1 person was between 18 and 29 years old.
The county did not explain why it did not have age demographics for the other four people who died.
Below are the daily numbers for areas near West Hollywood:
- Beverly Hills – 12 new cases for a total of 939 cases.
- Culver City – 10 new cases for a total of 596 cases.
- Hollywood – 15 new cases for a total of 1,793 cases.
- Melrose neighborhood – 16 new cases for a total of 2,702 cases.
- Park La Brea – no new cases for a total of 184 cases.
For information about COVID-19 and the many resources available to West Hollywood residents, CLICK HERE.
This article presents yet another sobering statistic- each infectious person is infecting 1.27 others on average. That is the recipe for exponential increase and, as the article duly notes, the highest coefficient since the pandemic began. Obviously the status quo was insufficient. Outside of private gatherings, outdoor restaurant dining was the most common way different households were mingling for extended periods with masks down- all key proven risk factors. L.A County is now estimating 1 in 145 County residents is currently (right now!) capable of infecting others. L.A. County further estimates 10-15% of cases stem from outdoor dining. This was… Read more »
Unfathomable.