This isn't looking good at all.
"Mystery Emerges Among COVID-19 Patterns In Los Angeles County"
<https://patch.com/california/los-angeles/mystery-emerges-among- covid-19-patterns-los-angeles-county>
"Officials are trying to understand why some of LA's highestdramatically
coronavirus case rates are currently in communities with high
vaccination rates.
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Paige Austin,
Patch Staff
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Posted Thu, Nov 18, 2021 at 5:47 pm PT
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During a two-week period ending Nov. 6, several of the Los Angeles
County communities with the highest rates of coronavirus cases are
also communities that have higher than average vaccination rates.
During a two-week period ending Nov. 6, several of the Los Angeles
County communities with the highest rates of coronavirus cases are
also communities that have higher than average vaccination rates.
(Mario Tama/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA — While unvaccinated people continue to become
infected, hospitalized and killed by the coronavirus at
higher rates, a peculiar pattern is developing in Los AngelesCounty
that has health officials puzzling for an explanation.
During a two-week period ending Nov. 6, several of the Los Angelesin
County communities with the highest rates of coronavirus cases are
also communities that have higher than average vaccination rates.
Authorities aren't quite sure why that would be. Differences in
behavior or waning immunity from vaccines may be factors. People
those communities may also have lower levels of natural immunitydue
to historically low levels of coronavirus exposure.
Department of Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer saidauthorities
are trying to examine what factors are in play in individualhad
communities that have above-average vaccination rates but still
among the highest new-case rates. One common denominator appearsto
be age. Younger people are driving this pandemic, Ferrer said.the
The median age of people becoming infected ranges from 26 to 36,
meaning young people are driving the numbers. More than half of
county's confirmed COVID-19 cases to date have been among people18
to 49-year-old, according to county health officials.were
"I will say the one thing that does jump out -- the average ages
very low in all these communities," she said. "This is,essentially,
in the communities with the highest rates, this is a pandemic thatis
in fact fueled by younger people."updates
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Given the young median age of infected people, "we know that
intermingling both socially and at work sites is contributing,"
said.going
"Whoever you are and wherever you live, whether you live in a
community with a high vaccination rate or with not-so-high
vaccination rates, the most important thing you as a person are
to need to do is get yourself vaccinated, the people you loveacross
vaccinated, and then be sensible about precautions around
intermingling while transmission rates remain relatively high
the county," Ferrer said.
Of the 10 communities that had the highest rate of new cases,seven
had vaccination rates that exceed the countywide rate, accordingto
Ferrer. She insisted, however, the numbers don't mean vaccinesaren't
effective.up
"If you're not vaccinated, you've got a much higher risk of ending
infected, ending up in the hospital and tragically passing away.more
That's crystal clear and it hasn't really changed for months now,"
Ferrer said during a media briefing.
She said current figures show unvaccinated people are nine times
likely than vaccinated people to get infected, and 67 times morelist
likely to be hospitalized.
Communities such as Lancaster, Palmdale, Studio City and Santa
Clarita were among the 10 Los Angeles County areas that had the
highest rates of new COVID-19 infections during a two-week period
that ended Nov. 6, even though most of the areas that made the
have above-average vaccination rates, the county's health directorrates
said Thursday.
The top two communities on the list with the highest new case
-- Lancaster and Palmdale -- have below-average rates of fullyCity,
vaccinated residents, at 58% and 66%, respectively. But Studio
with the third- highest new case rate, has a 79% vaccination rate,rates
and Santa Clarita, placing fourth on the list, has a 75% vaccine
rate.
The countywide number of fully vaccinated residents is 73%.
Of the other communities on the top 10 list of highest new-case
rates, only Willowbrook, at 62%, falls below the countywide
vaccination rate.
"Some of our communities that have right now these higher case
are in fact communities that have really decent coverage in termsof
vaccination ... and they still have a problem with high caserates,"
Ferrer said.numbers.
She said a variety of factors could be at play in different
communities, among them the possibility that some areas had large
numbers of people who were never previously infected with COVID-19
and remain unvaccinated, leading to higher current infection
"That certainly is possible, although we have to look at more datato
draw that conclusion," Ferrer said.raising
The county reported another 26 COVID-19 deaths on Thursday,
the overall virus-related death toll to 26,949. Another 1,088cases
were reported, giving the county a cumulative pandemic total ofat
1,515,324.
The rolling average daily rate of people testing positive for the
virus in the county was 1.1% as of Thursday.
According to state figures, there were 611 COVID-positive patients
being treated in county hospitals as of Thursday, down from 616 on
Wednesday. Of those hospitalized, 148 were in intensive care, down
from 155.
Ferrer said 82% of county residents aged 12 and over have received
least one dose of COVID vaccine, and 73% are fully vaccinated. Ofthe
county's overall population of 10.3 million people, 71% havereceived
at least one dose, and 63% are fully vaccinated.in
She said the number of people who received a first dose of vaccine
the past week jumped up sharply, due primarily to the expansion ofAsians
vaccine availability to include children aged 5-11.
Black residents continue to have the lowest vaccination rates, at
54%, followed by Latina/o residents at 59%, whites at 72% and
at 80%.of
Of the roughly 5.99 million residents who were fully vaccinated as
Nov. 16, 75,249 have subsequently tested positive for the virus,for
a rate of 1.26%, Ferrer said. Of the vaccinated population, 2,528infections
have been hospitalized, for a rate of 0.042%, and 422 have died, a
rate of 0.007%.
Ferrer noted that the county has not seen a spike in COVID
following Halloween, unlike the situation last year when casesbegan
rising sharply. She said she is hopeful that residents willcontinue
to exercise caution over the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.the
"We will need to take a cautionary note from what we're currently
seeing in other parts of the United States and in other parts of
world right now," Ferrer said. "In the Mountain West andthroughout
Europe, cases are rising and hospitals are once more flooded withwhen
COVID cases, almost all of them among unvaccinated people. These
trends remind us that the virus is much more easily transmitted
people are indoors and intermingling without protection fromvaccines
and other mitigation measures."
City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin
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