Los Angeles County health officials reported 1,171 new COVID-19 infections on Thursday, Feb. 9, and 21 more virus-related deaths in their latest data.
The number of hospital patients infected with COVID-19, meanwhile, dipped to 699, according to the state dashboard.
The new cases gave the county a cumulative total from throughout the pandemic of 3,685,950, with 35,403 deaths to date.
The daily case numbers released by the county’s Department of Public Health are undercounts of actual virus activity, due to people who use at-home tests and don’t report the results, and others who don’t test at all.
The majority of those who die with COVID-19 are elderly or have underlying health conditions such as diabetes, hearts disease or hypertension.
The seven-day average daily rate of people testing positive for the virus was 5.9% as of Wednesday, roughly the same rate as the past week.
Masks are still required indoors at health-care and congregate-care facilities in the county, and for anyone exposed to the virus in the past 10 days, and at businesses where they are required by the owner. Masks are strongly recommended for high-risk individuals, and for people riding public transit.
City News Service contributed to this reportÂ
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