Update
June 17

On June 17, Los Angeles County Dept. of Public Health confirmed 34 new deaths due to COVID-19. This brings the total number of deaths in LA County to 2,991.

As of June 15, the City of Glendale reported 99 deaths due to COVID-19, La Cañada Flintridge reported six, Eagle Rock reported 16 deaths, Sunland reported 19 and Tujunga reported 11 deaths. In the unincorporated areas of LA County, Altadena reported six deaths and La Crescenta/Montrose reported one death.

According to Public Health, of those in LA County who died, information about race and ethnicity is available for 2,779 people (99% of the cases reported by Public Health).

Upon further investigation, 24 cases and two deaths reported earlier were not LA County residents.

There were 2,129 new positive case of COVID-19 reported on June 17 by Public Health. The large number of new cases are in part due to 600 test results that were just recently reported from one laboratory. During the virtual briefing on Wednesday, Barbara Ferrer, director of Public Health, emphasized how important it is for labs to report their test results in a timely manner.

The total number of positive cases in LA County as of Wednesday is 77,189. There were 1,420 people who were in the hospital and 28% of those people were in the ICU and 22% were on ventilators. Testing continues to increase in LA County with about 854,000 individuals being tested with 8% of people testing positive.

USC Verdugo Hills Hospital issued an update that, as of Wednesday afternoon, seven patients were confirmed with COVID-19 currently hospitalized, 130 have been sent home and 35 were transferred. There were 54 patients who tested negative for COVID-19 in the hospital with 1,514 sent home and 11 transferred. Of the patients with pending COVID-19 tests, 29 were hospitalized and two were sent home

“Our hearts go out to the many families who have lost people they love to COVID-19. You are in our thoughts and prayers every day. We are so sorry for your loss,” Ferrer stated in a release. “While many may be feeling relief that more businesses and facilities are opening, and that people are going back to work, please remember that the key to moving through our recovery journey successfully is to look out for one another. This means practicing physical distancing as much as possible and wearing a cloth face covering whenever you are around other people who are not from your household. This includes when you are walking along a sidewalk or standing in line at the store; if you will pass by others, please be wearing your face covering.”

Because this virus has not changed and is still easily transmitted among people in contact with each other, the best protection against COVID-19 continues to be washing hands frequently, avoiding touching eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands, self-isolating if sick, practicing physical distancing, and wearing a clean face covering when in contact with others from outside your household. It’s important if someone thinks s/he could be positive for COVID-19 and are awaiting testing results, to stay at home and act as if s/he is positive. This means self-isolating for 10 days and 72 hours after symptoms and fever subside, or until they receive a negative result. If people test positive for COVID-19, they should plan on receiving a call from a contact tracer to discuss how to protect themselves and others, to find out where they may have been, and who they were in close contact with while infectious. People who have underlying health conditions remain at much greater risk for serious illness from COVID-19, so it will continue to be very important for the County’s vulnerable residents to stay at home as much as possible, to have groceries and medicine delivered, and to call their providers immediately if they have even mild symptoms, according to Public Health.