The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors are considering taking the coronavirus vaccine on the road to attempt to stem the recent uptick in infections.
At its meeting Tuesday, the board will vote on sending a mobile vaccination unit throughout the county to reach Black and Latino communities.
“We see so much resistance and lack of participation on the part of key communities that have been severely impacted by COVID,” Supervisor Hilda Solis told KNX. “We need to go where people work. We need to go to where they recreate and where they hang out.”
On Monday, the number of new COVID-19 infections reported in Los Angeles County topped 1,000 for the fourth consecutive day. And while infection and hospitalization numbers remain relatively low, compared to height of the pandemic, the increases are speeding up.
According to state figures, there were 376 people hospitalized in the county due to COVID on Monday, up slightly from 372 on Sunday. There were 85 people in intensive care as of Monday, up from 82 a day earlier.
Public health officials say virtually everyone who's getting infected or falling seriously ill is unvaccinated.
The highly contagious Delta variant is spreading, but demand for shots is dropping with close to 4 million county residents still unvaccinated.
“We can’t afford to go backwards,” Solis said. “We can’t afford to see the spike in hospitalizations and deaths. People that are becoming ill and deeply ill are the ones who have not been vaccinated.”
Deaths, a lagging indicator, are not going up right now.
That may have something to do with the fact that transmission is rising among younger people, who have lower vaccination rates. Seniors, who are at greater risk, have high vaccination rates.
City News Service contributed to this report