Los Angeles County makes continued progress against COVID-19 but virus still hits communities of color hardest
Los Angeles County continues to see steady progress in the fight against COVID-19 but the virus is still hitting communities of color the hardest, health officials said Wednesday. Death and case rates have been falling among all racial groups but Latino, Black and Pacific Islander residents continue to see the highest of these rates. The county remains on the state’s monitoring list because of a case rate that still hasn’t fallen below 100 cases per 100,000 people — the level required by state health officials to reopen parts of the economy that have been shuttered for months. L.A. already meets most of the criteria required by the state to reopen. But Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday that California will be drafting a new set of standards for counties to reopen. He didn’t specify whether the new criteria, to be released next week, will be more or less strict. A total of 225,827 cases of the virus have been reported in L.A. County and 5,392 patients have died, according to the Department of Public Health. That includes another 61 deaths and 1,956 cases confirmed Wednesday including 100 cases from the state’s backlog, Health Director Barbara Ferrer said. The county has […]