The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention moved Los Angeles County out of the "high" COVID-19 transmission category down to "substantial."
The drop comes after nearly two months in the highest tier. The quick spread of the highly contagious Delta variant pushed up COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations earlier this summer. But the numbers have now been dropping for several weeks.
With fewer than 60 percent of county residents fully vaccinated and Delta still widespread, Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said a lot more people need to get jabbed "to break the cycle of high rates of transmission."
She cautioned that the county could still see increases in cases related to the return to school, work and the Labor Day holiday. In addition to slowing the spread of the Delta variant, Ferrer said getting vaccinated helps lessen the effects of COVID-19.
“While both vaccinated and unvaccinated people can get infected, being unvaccinated increase[s] your chances four fold of becoming infected, 10 fold of being hospitalized and more than 10 fold for dying. The vaccine continues doing its very important work of dramatically reducing illness and suffering from COVID among the people who are vaccinated,” she said.
L.A. County's improvements have helped California become the first state to get out of the "high" transmission category.
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