LA County counts 767 new COVID-19 cases as hospitalizations dip

Los Angeles County reported 767 new COVID-19 cases Thursday, along with 12 more virus-related fatalities.

The new cases gave the county a cumulative total from throughout the pandemic of 3,722,478.

Overall COVID-19 case reports from the county are considered to be undercounts of actual virus activity, due to the number of people who use at-home tests and don’t report the results, or those who don’t bother testing at all.

With the new fatalities, the county’s overall virus-related death toll stood at 35,960 as of Thursday.

A majority of people who die with COVID-19 are elderly or have an underlying health condition such as diabetes, heart disease or hypertension, health officials have said.

The seven-day average daily rate of people testing positive for the virus was 4.3% as of Thursday, the same as Wednesday and generally on par with the past week.

According to state figures, there were 420 COVID-positive patients in county hospitals as of Thursday, down from 435 a day earlier. Of those patients, 39 were being treated in intensive care units, down slightly from 40 on Wednesday.

Some patients were admitted for other reasons and learned they had COVID after a mandated test.