Los Angeles County health officials have warned residents to exercise caution on Mother’s Day with COVID-19 cases once again rising.
“Given that the virus is spreading at a high rate, public health asks all those gathering to celebrate and honor their moms and grandmoms this weekend to keep each other safe by testing before gathering, staying outside as much as possible, and wearing masks when indoors,” the LA County Public Health Department said in a message.
The message came amid an uptick in cases in Los Angeles County. Statistics released Friday showed that the county was reporting more than 3,000 new cases, six deaths, and more than 230 hospitalizations – which was a slight drop from the week before.
According to state data released Sunday, COVID-related hospitalizations decreased by 10 people to 248, with the number of patients in intensive care, 33, unchanged from the day before.
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Cases remain significantly less than their peak back in mid-January, when LA County was experiencing more than 40,000 new COVID cases per week amid the winter’s omicron variant surge.
“As L.A. County continues in this different phase of the pandemic, Public Health’s goal has not changed, and we will work with partners to reduce serious illness and deaths from COVID-19,” Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said in a statement.
“It is simply not appropriate to tolerate disproportionality that results in higher rates of illness, death and long-term disability among some residents and workers when there are collective prevention strategies that can mitigate spread and serious illness.”