Manhattan Beach Records 5th Death from COVID-19
Sep 01, 2020 11:16PM ● By Jeanne FratelloManhattan Beach hit a sad milestone on September 1, with its 5th reported death from COVID-19. Nevertheless, the city continues to have low numbers of coronavirus cases, with only six new cases reported in Manhattan Beach in the past week.
As with previous deaths, the county of Los Angeles has not released any further information about the deceased, citing HIPAA health privacy laws.
The city of Manhattan Beach now stands at 315 total cases since the pandemic began, along with the 5 deaths.
County Has Made Progress, But Widespread Transmission Remains
In a statement, the L.A. County Department of Health noted that the county has made encouraging progress in all the key indicators the
past month. The percent of positive tests appears to indicate that the county is moving in the right direction: On July 31,
the 7-day test positivity rate was 8.6%; whereas by August 31, the 7-day positivity
rate was 4.7%, a decrease of 45% in one month.
In that same period, the
county’s daily hospitalizations decreased by 48%, from 2,220 on July 31
to 1,043 on August 31. The 7-day average of new cases has also declined
steadily over the past month. On July 31 the 7-day average of new cases
was 2,883 and on August 31 that number was 1,309, a decrease of 55%.
On Friday, the state announced a new tiered framework to capture more
easily the extent of community transmission in counties across the state
and will use this tiered system to guide possible sector re-openings
for each county to consider. That said, the ultimate decisions about
sector re-openings will remain under the purview of the local health officer orders that are developed in consultation with the county's Board of
Supervisors.
L.A. County is currently in Tier 1, meaning that there continues
to be a widespread transmission of the virus in the county. The current
number of new cases per day per 100,000 people is 13.1, nearly double
the threshold for this tier, which is less than seven new cases per day
per 100,000 population. And even though L.A. County's current test
positivity rate of 5% puts the county in Tier 2 (Red) for this metric, when the
two metrics fall in different tiers, the state places counties in the
most restrictive tier; hence, L.A. County, like most counties in
California, has been placed in Tier 1. The county's path forward for
recovery depends on everyone being able to reduce community transmission
significantly so children and teachers can get back to their
classrooms, and more people can get back to their jobs with as much
safety as possible.
“We are sad to report today that more Angelenos have lost their lives to
COVID-19, and their loved ones are in our hearts as they mourn,” said
Barbara Ferrer, the L.A. County director of public health. “As we look at
the possibility of re-opening more businesses and, eventually, schools,
there is a lot at stake. Increased numbers of people being around one
another can result in more transmission of COVID-19, at a time where we
need to be doubling down on our efforts to slow the spread. Our past
weekend inspections demonstrated that 20% of restaurants and 17% of
markets are still not in compliance with the health officer orders. This
does not help us get our numbers down.”