L.A. County Reports 1,313 New Cases of COVID-19

Los Angeles County health officials reported 1,313 new cases of COVID-19 and 22 additional deaths Sunday, bringing the county’s totals to 1,203,152 cases and 22,029 fatalities since the pandemic began.

The number of coronavirus patients in L.A. County hospitals continued to fall, dropping to 1,132, according to state health officials. That’s a huge drop from the peak of the winter surge in early January, when the number was more than 8,000.

On Saturday, officials reported 16 additional cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, bringing the total cases of MIS-C in L.A. County to 116 children, including one child death.

All 116 children with MIS-C were hospitalized, and 41% were treated in the ICU. Of the children with MIS-C, 29% were under the age of 5, 43% were between 5 and 11, and 28% were between 12 and 20. Latino/Latinx children account for 75% of the reported cases.

MIS-C is an inflammatory condition associated with COVID-19. Symptoms include fever that does not go away and inflamed body parts, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs. 

Those who believe their child is displaying MIS-C symptoms were advised to contact their primary care or an urgent care provider. Those without a primary care provider can dial 2-1-1 and L.A. County will help connect them to one.

Meanwhile, in what county officials hope is the beginning of the end of severe COVID-19 vaccine shortages, the county will receive its largest vaccine allotment to date this week, with nearly two-thirds of the supply being used to administer first doses.

Dr. Paul Simon, the county Department of Public Health’s chief science officer, said the county will receive 312,000 doses of vaccine this week, including 53,700 doses of the newly authorized single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Of the allotment, 62% will be used for first doses — reversing a recent trend of most shots being reserved for people in need of their second dose.

As of Friday, 2,415,460 doses of vaccine have been administered in the county, Simon said. That includes 814,593 second doses, meaning that many people have been fully vaccinated.

The increase in doses is welcome news in a county with increasingly large numbers of residents eligible to receive shots. Roughly 1.7 million essential workers, including teachers, became eligible this week, on top of the health care workers and residents aged 65 and over who were already eligible.