There were 453 COVID-positive patients in county hospitals as of Friday, up 34 from Thursday’s 419 with 44 in intensive care, down from 50 a day earlier, according to the latest state figures.
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
Meanwhile, Los Angeles County reported more than 1,300 new COVID-19 cases in its latest data, 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.
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.