L.A. County continues to see decline in coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths

Los Angeles County public health officials on Sunday reported 1,465 new cases of the coronavirus and 93 related deaths, noting that case numbers are usually lower on the weekends because not all laboratories report results.

Still, the sustained decline in new cases, hospitalizations and deaths suggests the county is turning the corner from a vicious fall and winter surge that killed about 12,000 people. The county has reported more than 1.1 million coronavirus cases overall and nearly 20,000 related deaths since the pandemic began.

There were 2,213 COVID-19 patients in county hospitals as of Saturday, a drop of nearly 46% from two weeks before, when there were 4,079 patients.

Orange County has seen similar trends, on Sunday reporting 252 new cases of the virus, 40 related deaths and 577 hospitalized patients, a drop of about 45% from two weeks before.

Health officials have urged people to continue to remain vigilant about observing safety precautions as several variants of the virus are circulating in Southern California, including the one that emerged in the U.K. and is believed to be 50% more transmissible.

At the same time, efforts to vaccinate people in California, as in other states, have been sluggish due to scarce supplies and weather-related delivery delays that forced the temporary closure of several large-scale distribution sites over the weekend, including those run by the city of Los Angeles like Dodger Stadium, and the Disneyland site in Orange County.

All six sites run by the city of Los Angeles will reopen Tuesday, Mayor Eric Garcetti tweeted Sunday. Those who had appointments postponed Friday or Saturday will be rescheduled and notified by Monday, he wrote.