County reports more than 2,300 coronavirus cases over 3 days, 45 deaths

Los Angeles County health officials reported another 2,333 coronavirus infections over a three-day period ending Monday, along with 45 new COVID-19-related deaths.

The county Department of Public Health reported 1,173 infections on Saturday, 786 on Sunday and 388 on Monday.

Sunday and Monday figures are traditionally undercounts because of delays in reporting from the weekend. Overall, the daily case numbers released by the county are also undercounts of actual virus activity because of people who use at-home tests and don't report the results, and others who don't test at all.

The county, meanwhile, reported 20 COVID-19-related deaths for Saturday, 15 for Sunday and 10 for Monday.

The new fatalities lifted the county's overall death toll to 35,470.

The seven-day average rate of people testing positive for the virus was 6.1% as of Monday, holding roughly steady from the past week.

Health officials do not release COVID-19 statistics on weekends.

An updated number of coronavirus patients in county hospitals was not immediately available. But as of Saturday, there were 697 such patients, with 69 being treated in intensive care units.

County Department of Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said last week that coronavirus infection and hospitalization rates were holding steady at a relatively low rate. 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 warned that the latest strain is more capable of causing infection, and they urged residents to continue being cautious to prevent the spread of the illness.

Masks 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 people and for those riding public transit.

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