October 21, 2021
By Brian W. Carter
Contributing Writer
“We join the nation in mourning the death of former Secretary of State General Colin Powell, who has died of COVID complications at the age of 84,” said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. “This is why masking and distancing remain important layers of protection when transmission of COVID remains high or substantial; and increasing vaccination rates is the beast strategy for reducing exposure risk for everyone.”
Powell’s death in the midst of being vaccinated is the latest in a list of breakthrough cases. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, out of 187 million vaccinated Americans, 31,895 breakthrough cases have been reported and of those cases, 7,178 have died.
According to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) 60,689 fully vaccinated people have tested positive for COVID-19 as of earlier this month. Out those who tested positive, 2,043 were hospitalized. There have been 311 deaths among fully vaccinated people.
“While our data demonstrate the tremendous power of vaccines to prevent severe outcomes of COVID infection, this tragic loss [of Colin Powell] highlights the fact that for vulnerable people, including older adults and those with underlying health conditions including immunosuppression, there is still a small but serious risk of hospitalization or death even after vaccination,” said Ferrer.
On Monday, October 18, The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (Public Health) reported 4 new deaths and stated 948 new cases of COVID-19. There were 638 patients hospitalized with COVID-19 with 15% of nearly 8,904,000 individuals testing positive with symptoms.
Public Health identified 1,478,622 positive cases of COVID-19 across all areas of L.A. County and a total of 26,418 deaths. Cases across the Southland: Los Angeles County shows 1,400,688 cases, Long Beach with 64,557 cases and Pasadena with 13,377 cases.
According to race and ethnicity, COVID-19 statistics show: American Indian/Alaska Native with 2,394; Asian with 66,861; Black with 67,168; Hispanic/Latino with 722,991; Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander with 5,151; White with 172,084; those of other race and ethnicity with 118,538 and 245,501 under investigation.
Vaccinated middle and high school students are eligible for free UCLA football tickets. UCLA, partnered with Public Health, are giving away free tickets to a UCLA football game at the Rose Bowl to students in L.A. County who’ve received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while tickets last. Students ages 12 to 18, who’ve received at least one dose, can sign up for the free tickets online by visiting: http://ph.lacounty.gov/DPHUCLAVaxforTix.
For more detailed information on COVID-19 vaccination plans in L.A. County and to sign up for a vaccination newsletter, visit: www.VaccinateLACounty.com
For more information and statistics on COVID-19 in Los Angeles County, please visit http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/
Always check with trusted sources for the latest accurate information about novel coronavirus:
*Los Angeles County Department of Public Health http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/media/Coronavirus/
*California Department of Public Health https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/Immunization/ncov2019.aspx
*Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019- ncov/index.html Spanish https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index-sp.html
*World Health Organization https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus
*LA County residents can also call 2-1-1