L.A. County posts 34 coronavirus deaths, 2,100 new cases

Los Angeles County health officials reported 34 new COVID-19-related deaths from a three-day period ending Monday, along with 2,129 new infections.

The county reported 14 new deaths for Saturday,

12 for Sunday and eight for Monday. The reports do not necessarily mean the deaths occurred on that day but reflect the day the fatalities were reported. The new fatalities lifted the county's overall COVID-19-related death toll to 35,675.

A majority of people who die with COVID-19 are older adults or have an underlying health condition such as diabetes, heart disease or hypertension, health officials have said.

County health officials logged 1,092 new coronavirus infections for Saturday, 615 for Sunday and 422 for

Monday, raising the overall total to 3,703,663. Figures from Sunday and Monday are likely undercounts due to delays in reporting over the weekend.

Daily case numbers released by the county are also undercounts of actual virus activity in the county, due to people who use at-home tests and don't report the results and others who don't test at all.

The seven-day average rate of people testing positive for the virus was 5.6% as of Monday, roughly steady from the past week.

An updated number of coronavirus patients in Los Angeles County hospitals was not immediately available. As of Friday, 692 such patients were hospitalized in the county, with 64 being treated in intensive care units.

Some of the patients were initially hospitalized for other reasons and learned later they had COVID-19.