The novel coronavirus positivity rate fell below three percent across LA County this week, signaling more good news in the fight against the pandemic that has killed more than 200,000 Americans so far.
In Malibu, from Tuesday, Sept. 15, through Thursday, Sept. 24, no additional cases were reported among residents, meaning Malibu has maintained a total of 101 laboratory-confirmed cases of the virus that began spreading in California in the beginning of 2020.
In that time, the virus has taken the life of three Malibuites.
Countywide, 262,133 people had tested positive for the virus with 6,401 deaths attributed to COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.
The LA County Department of Public Health expressed concern in a press release Tuesday that social gatherings for Labor Day may have increased viral spread around the county, writing that department officials were closely monitoring key indicators such as a potential rise in hospitalizations, which could begin three to four weeks after the holiday.
“The county continues to see the number of daily COVID-19 hospitalizations decline from the July 20 peak of a three-day average of over 2,200 hospitalizations. There are 745 people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 and 28 percent of these people are in the ICU,” the county’s Sept. 22 statement read. “Even in the last month, since the end of August, there has been a significant decrease from an average of 1,200 daily hospitalizations to the average this past week of under 800 hospitalizations per day. We are hoping that we do not see an increase in the number of daily hospitalizations in the upcoming weeks associated with activities that occurred over the Labor Day holiday.”