L.A. County has more than 1,000 new coronavirus cases in a day, highest in months

Los Angeles County reported more than 1,000 new coronavirus cases in a single day on Friday — the biggest such report in months.

The last time L.A. County reported more than 1,000 new cases in a single day was due to a backlog of cases in late May. In early March, the county was routinely posting new coronavirus cases of more than 1,000 a day.

With 1,060 new cases reported Friday, according to a preliminary Times tally, L.A. County was averaging 598 new cases a day over the past week, a significant increase from a month ago, when the county was reporting fewer than 200 new cases a day.

The latest case rate, however, is far less than the peak of more than 15,000 new coronavirus cases a day at the height of the pandemic.

Officials are attributing the rise in coronavirus cases to the virus’ spread among unvaccinated people in L.A. County.

The test positivity rate has increased from the 1.5% reported last week to Friday’s rate of 2.4%.

COVID-19 hospitalizations are also rising in L.A. County. The record low for COVID-19 hospitalizations was posted June 12, when 212 were in the hospital, a 97% decrease from the peak of the pandemic Jan. 5, when 8,098 people were in hospitals.

But by Thursday, there were 336 people with COVID-19 in county hospitals.

“With increased COVID-19 transmission among unvaccinated people, [the Department of] Public Health encourages those that are eligible for COVID-19 vaccination and not yet vaccinated, to get vaccinated without delay,” county officials said in a statement. “It takes time before you are considered fully vaccinated. For all of the vaccines, you are only considered fully protected two weeks after all doses are complete. Vaccination is the best protection against this disease.”