In the past week, it appears that L.A.’s efforts to stem the rise in COVID-19 infections has had an impact. While the number of new infections remains high, case rates are no longer rising rapidly. More importantly, hospitalizations have leveled off, and the County’s transmission rate (referred to as “R”) is now back below 1.0. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer noted that the County will continue to try to “thread the needle” between keeping the population safe and reopening the economy. While the County’s indicators remain above the levels that Governor Newsom has set for economic reopening (such as an 8% positive testing rate and a declining number of hospitalizations), metrics appear to be moving in the right direction.

Enforcement

In the past week, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health brought enforcement actions against several companies for failure to comply with Health Officer Orders and safety regulations related to COVID-19. These enforcement actions included closing three food production companies, each of which had outbreaks of over 40 cases of COVID-19 and failed to report positive cases to the County. On Wednesday, July 29, Dr. Ferrer noted that the County received approximately 2,000 anonymous reports of violations per week.