The number of COVID-19 positive patients in Angeles County hospitals again surpassed 500 on Tuesday, as the county reported the virus-related death of another minor.
No details about the death have been released, with the county Department of Public Health saying the person was a minor under the age of 18, marking the 14th death of a minor in the county related to COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. .
The death was one of 12 reported by the county on Tuesday, bringing the total death toll to 33,709.
According to state data, there were 508 COVID-19 positive patients in county hospitals as of Tuesday, up from 494 on Saturday, the last day the numbers were available. Of these patients, 69 were being treated in intensive care, compared with 55 on Saturday.
Hospitalization numbers for COVID-19 have generally declined in recent months, reflecting the overall decline in transmission of the virus in the county. As of mid-July, there were more than 1,300 virus-positive patients in county hospitals.
County officials said about 40 percent of those patients were hospitalized specifically for COVID-19, while the rest were hospitalized for others but tested positive on admission.
The county reported 1,133 new COVID infections on Tuesday, bringing the total number for the entire pandemic to 3,459,997.
The Public Health has announced that the use of masks will no longer be mandatory in places where they were deemed necessary, due to the “low” level of activity of COVID-19.
The number of daily cases reported by the county has been steadily declining for weeks, although health officials have admitted that the official numbers may be misleading because residents mainly use home tests that are not reported to the county.
As of Tuesday, the seven-day average rate of people testing positive for the virus in the county was 4.2 percent.
Due to the uncertainty surrounding daily COVID-19 infection numbers, county health officials closely monitored levels of the virus detected in the county’s sewage system to track trends in case levels.
County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said last week that analysis of those systems showed COVID-19 levels are stabilizing, which could indicate that transmission of the virus is no longer declining. . But she noted that all other monitoring efforts still indicate a low level of concern and the county “expects transmission is not increasing at this time.”
