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Los Angeles County reported more than 1,300 new COVID-19 cases Thursday, along with seven new virus-related deaths.
The 1,332 new cases lifted the county’s overall total from throughout the pandemic to 3,491,716.
The number of cases released by the county each day is an undercount of actual COVID activity, due to the widespread use of at-home tests, the results of which are generally not reported to the county.
With seven new fatalities, the county’s cumulative number of virus-related deaths rose to 33,992.
According to state figures, there were 419 COVID-positive patients in county hospitals as of Thursday, down from 427 on Wednesday. Of those patients, 50 were being treated in intensive care units, up from 48 a day earlier.
The number of COVID-positive patients has bounced up and down in recent weeks, with health officials closely watching the figures as they hope to avoid another winter surge of virus infections, hospitalizations and deaths.
County officials have said that about 40% of COVID-positive patients were actually admitted to hospitals due to virus-related illness, while the others were admitted for other reasons, and in many cases only learning they were infected when they were tested at the hospital.
The seven-day average daily rate of people testing positive for the virus was 4.8% as of Thursday.
