City Reports Three New Cases of COVID on Sunday, One of Them a Fully Vaccinated Woman

The city reported three cases of COVID-19 and no deaths on Sunday.

The three infections increased the city’s total case count since the pandemic began to 11,190. Fatalities held at 340 deaths.

According to Public Information Officer Lisa Derderian, the three latest cases were all recently swabbed and their ages range from 42 to 48.

One of those cases was fully vaccinated over a month ago and she is asymptomatic. Although the exact source of exposure in the case was unknown, she gathered with family recently where half of the family members were vaccinated and the other half all tested negative.

The case is a reminder that even though a person is vaccinated, she or he can still test positive.

Vaccines on Thursday became available statewide to everyone 16 and older. Los Angeles County estimates there are about 5 million people between ages 16 and 49 who became newly eligible on Thursday, but about 1.5 million of them are believed to have already received at least one dose as a member of a previously eligible group.

As of April 9, 41% of the county’s overall population 16 and older had received at least one dose, said Los Angeles County Chief Science Officer Dr. Paul Simon. About 71% of the county’s population aged 65 and up have received at least one dose.

He said the county is filling the vast majority of its available vaccine appointments, particularly now with more people eligible for vaccinations. He said there has only been a 5% to 10% rate of no-shows for appointments.

Simon said so far the county has not seen any spike in vaccine hesitancy, which was feared following issues that arose last week with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and forced a halt to the use of that medication.

“We continue to have an excellent turnout,” Simon said. “As we get closer and closer to vaccinating everybody, though, I think we then start to get concerned about people and groups that may have reluctance to be vaccinated, so we’re watching for that very closely.”

Simon said the county remains on pace to get 80% of the population vaccinated by the end of June. He noted that from April 4-11, 670,000 doses were administered in the county, for an average of nearly 100,000 per day.

This week, the county will receive an allocation of 361,750 doses, a 12% increase from last week. That supply will be supplemented by direct allocations by the state and federal governments to specific providers such as major health systems, healthcare centers, and pharmacies. With those allocations, more than 600,000 new doses will be available across the county this week, Simon said.

The county, Simon said, continues to make good progress in its fight against the virus, but recent spikes in cases in states such as Michigan and New Jersey are examples of what could happen if people let their guard down too soon.

“So that’s why even though our numbers are pretty good right now, we’re really urging people to hang in for another couple months to do everything possible to prevent spread,” he said.