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In fact, during the month of June, 20% of all newly reported COVID infections in the county occurred among people who had been fully vaccinated.
That was up from 11% in May and 5% in April. But Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said the increase is normal given the continued rise in the number of people who are getting fully vaccinated.
She also stressed that fully vaccinated people who become infected generally have extremely mild cases a benefit the vaccines have always promised.
“Very few of them ended up hospitalized, and even smaller numbers ended up passing away,” Ferrer said. “So yes, if you are fully vaccinated you have a lot of protection, which is what the vaccines have always been best at protecting people from serious illness and death. And these vaccines, even with the ‘delta’ variant, are holding up really well.”
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Since the onset of the pandemic, 949 residents have now died.
The city reported 279 new cases of coronavirus Tuesday, the highest daily update since Feb. 8. With 37 patients, hospitalizations in Long Beach-area facilities remain stable and well-below January levels, which almost reached 600 patients and threatened to overwhelm the health system.
The city’s daily cases per 100,000 residents jumped again to 14.3, a more than 14-fold increase from a low of one in mid-June. Long Beach’s seven-day positivity rate has increased 1,275% to 5.5% since June 11. Both indicators are at their highest point since mid-February.
Based on the state’s now-defunct color-coded system, the case and positivity rates would put Long Beach in the most restrictive purple tier, meaning the virus is widespread. In the past, this would have triggered increased restrictions on businesses and gatherings. As it is, the city, following the lead of the county, has reinstated its mask manda
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The Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services today announced two new COVID-19 deaths, bringing the total number of fatalities to 947 since the onset of the pandemic. The deaths are the first related to the virus reported by the city since June 16.
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The seven-day positivity rate and daily cases per 100,000 residents metrics that were used by the state to determine local restrictions before doing away with the system last month continue to climb from their recent lows. The positivity rate has increased from 0.6% in early June to 2.6% as of July 8, while the daily cases per 100,000 residents has jumped from one to nearly 4.5.
The city recently deployed mobile vaccination units, and now nearly 53% of Long Beach residents are vaccinated, according to the Long Beach health department.