by Steven Felschundneff | steven@claremont-courier.com

COVID-19 hospitalizations in Los Angeles county continue to drop in a hopeful sign that the county will soon be able to lift some of the business restrictions put in place by the current health order. However, for that to occur, the case rate still needs to be significantly lower.

According to the State of California’s Blueprint for a Safer Economy which replaced the state’s monitoring list, transmission of the virus remains widespread in Los Angeles county due to the case rate which is currently 8.1 cases per 100,000, with a positivity rate of 3.2 cases per 1000,000. In order for the county to move to the next tier, and relax some of the business closures, the case rate would have to be below seven cases per 100,000 residents.

There are currently 765 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in the county, 30 percent of whom are in the ICU.

In its daily news release on Monday, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health reported 16 deaths and 652 new cases of COVID-19—however, the numbers may be artificially low due to reporting lags that commonly occur over the weekend. The cumulative number of cases now stands at 261,446 across all areas of L.A. County with 6,366 deaths.

Of the 16 new deaths reported today, eight were among those over the age of 80, four were between 65 and 79 years old, two were between 50 and 64 years old and two were between 30 and 49. Eleven people who died had underlying health conditions including eight over the age of 80.

Public health reports 404 cumulative cases in Claremont including its unincorporated areas. Sadly 13 Claremont residents have died.