Breaking

COVID vaccines important as L.A. 'breakthrough' cases rise - Los Angeles Times
Jul 30, 2021 2 mins, 54 secs
Los Angeles County has seen a rise in “breakthrough” coronavirus cases as of late, but data continue to show those who are vaccinated for COVID-19 enjoy vigorous protection — even from the contagious Delta variant — and are far less likely to be hospitalized should they become infected.

The latest figures underscore how the county’s recent coronavirus surge is different from the pandemic’s earlier spikes, both in terms of who is getting sick and how the virus is spreading countywide.

In June, fully vaccinated residents made up 20% of all confirmed coronavirus infections in those 16 and older, according to figures from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

In June, 20% of Los Angeles County’s coronavirus cases were among fully vaccinated residents.

Over the first half of the month, roughly 26% of all diagnosed cases were in fully vaccinated residents, according to figures county Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer presented this week.

This means unvaccinated residents still accounted for almost three times as many infections, even though they’ve been a minority of the population since the start of the month.

“Although vaccinated people are seeing a rise in new COVID diagnosis, they are primarily experiencing their infections not as severe illnesses that bring them to the emergency room, but as bad colds,” Ferrer said this week.

County health officials are trying to better understand the factors, such as being immunocompromised, that may put fully vaccinated people at risk of dying from COVID-19, Ferrer said.

As of July 17, communities that had high rates of transmission included downtown Los Angeles, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Venice, Hollywood Hills and Studio City, Ferrer said.

More than 53% of Angelenos have now been fully vaccinated, according to data compiled by The Times.

With California’s coronavirus surge worsening, officials are unveiling new rules and redoubling efforts to get more people to wear masks in an urgent push to boost vaccinations and slow the spread of the Delta variant.

Health officials have said it’s not unexpected that some people would become infected even after being fully vaccinated.

But if no one was vaccinated, Ferrer said, daily case counts could perhaps be twice as high as they are now.

“So instead of averaging 2,400 daily cases this past week, our daily case numbers might have instead been closer to 5,000,” she said.

From July 14 to 20, the average coronavirus case rate among unvaccinated Californians was 20.7 per 100,000 people per day — about six times the comparable rate of vaccinated individuals, according to the state Department of Public Health.

“The more contagious Delta variant is on the rise, and being fully vaccinated affords the best protections against the disease,” she said in a statement.

The highly transmissible Delta variant is a more formidable foe than previously believed, largely due to its ability to infect and be spread by people who are fully vaccinated, according to data gathered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Over the last week, California has reported an average of nearly 7,500 new coronavirus cases a day — more than eight times the rate from four weeks ago, according to data compiled by The Times.

Despite the steep rises, though, California remains well shy of the harrowing heights of the fall and winter surge, when an average of more than 40,000 cases were being reported daily and nearly 22,000 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized.

As of this week, only 0.27% of people fully vaccinated with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine had later become infected — compared with 0.15% of Pfizer-BioNTech recipients and 0.09% of those who got Moderna

RECENT NEWS

SUBSCRIBE

Get monthly updates and free resources.

CONNECT WITH US

© Copyright 2024 365NEWSX - All RIGHTS RESERVED