Los Angeles Coronavirus Update: L.A. Health Director Says, “Closing The Bars Worked,” Amid Promising COVID Numbers - Deadline

County Public Health director Dr.

Barbara Ferrer said Monday that the closure of bars and elimination of indoor dining, along with cooperation from residents, have slowed the illness’s spread.

Ferrer said the county is “cautiously optimistic that we’re getting back on track” in efforts to combat COVID-19, but she added, “I want to emphasize the word ‘cautiously.'”.

As of Monday, the number of people hospitalized in the county was reported at 1,784.

“Simply put, closing the bars worked,” Ferrer said.

Ferrer reported relatively low numbers of new coronavirus cases (1,634) and deaths (12) on Monday.

The city of Long Beach, which has its own health department, reported another 77 cases Monday and one additional death.

Ferrer walked through statistics from the month of July, generally showing that average daily numbers of new cases, hospitalizations and deaths spiked in the middle of the month — increases that earlier were attributed in part to mass gatherings that occurred over the Fourth of July weekend

Most of those statistics tailed off toward the end of the month, though the daily numbers of deaths remained elevated, since it is considered a lagging indicator that often accumulates later on the heels of increased hospitalizations

Whether the county can continue to see those numbers trend in the right direction again will be contingent on public cooperation, and residents’ ability to avoid falling into complacency in response to improving numbers, said Ferrer