LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health on Thursday reported 55 more coronavirus deaths and 733 new cases, and the health director stressed that young people can be just as susceptible to falling seriously ill or dying from the illness.
“I want to note that although older people are more likely to pass away and have severe illness from COVID-19, every day for the last week-and-a-half I’ve reported on a number of people who have unfortunately lost their lives and been younger than 65,” said Director Barbara Ferrer. “So I want to remind everybody, this virus really can cause devastating illness among people of all ages.”
In the Antelope Valley, there were 399 reported cases and nine coronavirus deaths in Palmdale and 307 cases and six deaths in Lancaster, as of 2 p.m. Thursday, April 30, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. For an online interactive “dashboard” that includes data about testing, cases and deaths by city/community, visit: http://dashboard.publichealth.lacounty.gov/covid19_surveillance_dashboard/
The new deaths reported Thursday rose the overall Los Angeles County death total to 1,111, with 23,182 reported cases.
Ferrer said three of the deaths reported Thursday were among people aged 18-40, although two of those people had underlying health conditions.
Ferrer noted that people with underlying health conditions are particularly susceptible to the virus, accounting for 92% of all COVID-19 deaths in Los Angeles County. She said people with pre-existing health conditions should contact a health care provider at the first sign of illness.
She noted that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has expanded its list of symptoms of COVID-19 and now includes a cough, shortness of breath, fever, chills, repeated shaking with chills, muscle pain, headache, sore throat and a new loss of taste or smell.
Of the 1,020 people who died for whom ethnic data was available, 38% were Latinx, 28% were white, 19% were Asian, 13% were black and 1% were Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander. The figures continue to show a disparate impact of the illness on the black community, which represents only about 9% of the overall county population.
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