Los Angeles County reports 20 more COVID-19 deaths, 1,197 new infections

Los Angeles County health officials reported another 20 COVID-19-related deaths Wednesday along with 1,197 new infections.

The new fatalities gave the county a cumulative death toll of 35,509 from throughout the pandemic, according to the county Department of Public Health.

With the new cases, the county's overall total grew to 3,692,123 infections. The daily case numbers released by the county are undercounts of actual virus activity in the county because of people who use at-home tests and don't report the results and others who don't test at all.

There were 689 coronavirus patients in Los Angeles County hospitals as of Wednesday, up slightly from 680 on Tuesday. Of those patients, 73 were being treated in intensive care units, up from 67 one day prior.

The seven-day average daily rate of people testing positive for the virus in the county was 6.8% as of Wednesday. The rate has held mostly steady for more than a week.

Coronavirus infection and hospitalization rates were holding steady at a relatively low rate, county Department of Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer, said last week. The county's seven-day rate of new infections was 69 per 100,000 residents, while the seven-day virus-related hospital admission rate was 7 per 100,000 residents, both on par with the previous week.

The statistics remained flat despite the emergence of the XBB.1.5 strain of the virus as the most prevalent variant in the county, representing 32.8% of all samples that underwent specialized sequencing.

Health officials have warned that the latest strain is more capable of causing infection, and they have urged residents to continue being cautious to prevent the illness from spreading.

Masks, meanwhile, 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.

For all other indoor settings, wearing masks is a matter of personal preference.