L.A. County’s homeless endure spike in COVID-19 cases

With the delta variant fueling an unnerving rise in coronavirus cases in Southern California, officials reported a corresponding rise in the disease among the Los Angeles County’s unhoused population on Friday.

Los Angeles County Public Health reported that the number of cases among the homeless has risen by 21% in a matter of a few weeks. From July 19 to Sunday, there were 111 new cases among the homeless and 92 last week, according to a COVID-19 update from the Department of Public Health.

The region’s growing homeless population — already under crisis conditions before the pandemic — also deeply has felt the impacts of the disease.

All told, 7,588 people among those experiencing homelessness have tested positive for COVID-19, which claimed the lives of 216.

“Given the high rate of community transmission in our county, our vaccination efforts remain critically important to reducing the impact of rising infection on our residents, including people experiencing homelessness who are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19,” Department of Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said Friday.

The statement noted that there are 1,066 providers administering vaccinations to homeless people, and more than 45,950 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to that population, across the county: 20,188 are fully vaccinated, according to the county.

The increase in cases among the homeless mirrors a broader rise among the general population in the region, which in its most recent incarnation has seen spikes in more affluent communities, in contrast to previous surges that hit lower-income communities particularly hard.

Officials say the rise is partly because so many people have intermingled since restrictions were lifted in mid-June. And even though many are vaccinated, spread has occurred among mainly the unvaccinated.

Coronavirus-related hospitalizations climbed over 1,000 in Los Angeles County on Friday, hitting that level for the first time since May as the delta variant expanded its resurgent spread and new insight emerged on just how newly dangerous it has become. An additional 3,606 new cases were reported — a daily number not seen since February.

Five additional deaths brought the county’s overall human toll to 24,676, and the total infected rose to 1,297,032, according to the Public Health Department.

Across the county, the burgeoning outbreak has not yet resulted in the kind of overwhelming hospitalization numbers last reported in January, when local medical centers were were filled with more than 8,000 people sickened by the virus. And experts say it likely never will.

But the increase in the caseload nonetheless has public health experts deeply worried, and hospitals gearing up for more visits as they’re already seeing upticks in their emergency rooms and ICU’s.