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MIS-C Cases Increase in L.A. County Children by More Than 35% in the Last Two Weeks
Arcadia Weekly Feb 12, 2021
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Courtesy photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
On Friday, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health reported 15 additional cases of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), bringing the total cases in L.A. County to 90 children including one death. L.A. County has experienced more than a 35% increase in children with MIS-C in last two weeks; on Jan. 30, Public Health reported 66 children with MIS-C.
All 90 children with MIS-C in L.A. County were hospitalized and 41% of the children were treated in the I.C.U. Of the children with MIS-C, 30% were under the age of 5 years old, 40% were between the ages of 5 and 11 years old, and 30% were between the ages of 12 and 20 years old. Latino/Latinx children account for 72% of the reported cases.
“The significant increase in MIS-C we are seeing in LA County is a consequence of our recent surge and demonstrates the terrible ripple effect of a large increase in cases,” said Barbara Ferrer, director of Public Health.
MIS-C is a serious inflammatory condition associated with COVID-19 that affects children under 21 years old. MIS-C cases tend to appear in children weeks after they had COVID-19, and sometimes even when a child or adolescent had no known prior infection. Symptoms include fever that does not go away and inflamed body parts, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain, skin, eyes, or gastrointestinal organs.
Public health officials also confirmed 137 new deaths and 3,497 cases of COVID-19. Since Tuesday, daily reported cases have stabilized near 3,500 new cases a day.
There are 3,604 people with COVID-19 currently hospitalized and 30% of these people are in the I.C.U. Friday’s daily test positivity rate is 6.1%.
More than 1,345,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered across the county. Of those vaccinated, 298,875 people have received second doses. At this time, vaccinations are available for healthcare workers, residents and staff at long-term care facilities, and people who are age 65 or older. This upcoming week, the county will receive 219,700 doses of vaccine; more than 50% of this allocation will be needed for second doses. The majority of appointments at the county’s large capacity vaccination sites continue to be limited to individuals with appointments for their second doses.
Next week, 391 vaccination sites will be offering appointments to healthcare workers and L.A. County residents 65 and older.
