Los Angeles

LA County's COVID Positivity Rate Hits Record Low; 600K Vaccine Doses Available Next Week

April 17, 2021 / 5:40 PM PDT / KCAL News

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LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – In yet another sign that the Southland is turning a corner in its battle against COVID-19, Los Angeles County's coronavirus positivity rate hit a record low, while at the same time vaccinations continued to ramp up.

A nurse waits at an empty table for more patients to arrive to receive a dose of the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine at a Veterans Administration (VA) Long Beach Healthcare System pop-up vaccination site at the Dae Hueng Presbyterian Church on April 17, 2021 in Gardena, California. (Photo by Patrick T. FALLON / AFP) (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)

The L.A. County Public Health Department reported that Friday's daily positivity rate fell to just 1%, the lowest rate since the start of the pandemic.

At the pandemic's height in December, the positivity rate had hit 20%.

Meanwhile, despite the nationwide halt in the administration of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine over blood clotting issues, L.A. County still expects to receive more than 600,000 total doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines next week.

Of that allotment, about 362,000 doses will go to L.A. city and county run sites, while the remainder will go to non-county and city providers -- such as pharmacies, health insurance providers and private health clinics -- who receive direct allocations from the state and federal governments.

This comes after California on Thursday expanded vaccine eligibility to everyone age 16 to 49, a group estimated at about 5 million in L.A. County. Of those, about 1.5 million were already believed to have already received at least one dose as a member of a previously eligible group.

More than 5.4 million doses of the vaccine have been administered across L.A. County so far. Through April 9, at least 41% of L.A. County's overall population age 16 and older has received at least one dose, according to LACPHD Chief Science Officer Dr. Paul Simon.

Simon noted that Friday that L.A. County has not seen any spike in vaccine hesitancy following the halting of the J&J vaccine. Simon said there has only been a 5% to 10% rate of no-shows for appointments.

"We continue to have an excellent turnout," Simon said. "As we get closer and closer to vaccinating everybody, though, I think we then start to get concerned about people and groups that may have reluctance to be vaccinated, so we're watching for that very closely."

Through Friday, L.A. County has recorded 23,601 deaths from COVID-19 and about 1.23 million positive cases.