After reporting on Friday that Claremont had four cases of the novel coronavirus, the County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health in its Saturday news release revised that finding back to just three confirmed cases. The COURIER received a message from public health officials stating that: “The location numbers are subject to change based on further investigation. Cases may be reassigned to a new location.”

The emailed statement also said that Claremont currently has no institutional cases, such as those in nursing homes and retirement communities.

The health department has confirmed 28 new deaths and 711 new cases of COVID-19, since the update on Friday. Twenty-one of the people who died had underlying health conditions and 17 were over the age of 65. Two individuals over the age of 65 who died did not have underlying health conditions. Nine people who died were between the ages of 18 and 65; six people who died in this age group had underlying health conditions. Two deaths were reported by the City of Long Beach. Over the last 48 hours, there have been 1238 new cases.

To date, the county has identified 5277 cases across all areas of LA County, including 117 deaths. As of Saturday a total of 1,168 people who tested positive for COVID-19 (22% of positive cases) were hospitalized at some point during their illness. Testing capacity continues to increase in LA county, with almost 29,000 individuals tested and 14% of people testing positive.

Emerging evidence suggests that there may be a significant number of people infected with COVID-19 who are asymptomatic and capable of spreading the virus to others. New guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reminds us we need to use universal precautions all the time—assuming that each of us can infect others even when we aren’t sick, and that others can infect us.

“Every life lost to COVID-19 is precious and we extend our deepest condolences to the families and friends of those who have died,” said Barbara Ferrer, director of public health for the County of Los Angeles. “As we reach our goal of testing 10,000 people a day, we need to prepare for a significant increase in the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19; we could easily see 1,000 cases or more per day in the near future. With more people infected, there can be increased spread if we all aren’t physically separating ourselves from others at every opportunity.”