Culver City Observer -

Public health officials this week reported that young adults are still driving up L.A. County's Covid-19 cases but the rate of inflection is slowing down, especially in Culver City.

Throughout the pandemic, people between18 and 49 years old have had the highest number of Covid-19 cases but now they account for 58% of all the infected, the County Health Department noted in a press release. "When you add teenagers, a group who may be out socializing, individuals between the ages of 12 and 50 now account for 68% of new cases."

Culver City recorded only 31 new cases of coronavirus and no deaths in the past month, according to the Health Department. As of Wednesday, the number of local residents with Covid-19 rose to 408 cases, representing only a 7% increase in the past month. Deaths related to coronavirus totaled 28.

County-wide, the total infected now stands at 290,486 with 6,944 deaths. Ninety-three percent of people who died had underlying health conditions. On Wednesday, Public Health Department reported 510 cases of the coronavirus and 33 deaths.

There are 758 people with Covid-19 currently hospitalized and 28% of these people are in the ICU. The Health Department noted that number of daily hospitalizations has been below 1,000 patients for most of September and has remained under 800 daily hospitalizations since mid-September.

People over 50 comprise the majority (60%) of people hospitalized with Covid-19 in Los Angeles County, health officials mentioned. Those between 18 and 29 years old have had a significant increase in hospitalizations and now comprise over 10% of hospitalizations, a two-fold increase from mid-May among this age group.

According to the County Health Department, most people who tested positive for Covid-19 were unable to identify where they may have been exposed. However, 55% of them said they attended an event or gathering where two or more people became sick, and 17% said they attended a place of worship where people became sick. Over 3,000 people who tested positive for Covid-19 admitted they spent time at a retail setting, like a grocery store or other shop and another 1,400 individuals spent time at outdoor spaces while over 600 people visited restaurants and over 500 people had been in offices, health officials said.

Obtaining as much information as possible from people during the case investigations helps contain the virus and minimize outbreaks and is a crucial part of protecting the health of communities, officials said.

"We have been living the realities of this pandemic for 8 months, and these times have been full of loss and difficulties. Yet we have made progress together," said Barbara Ferrer, PhD, MPH, MEd, Director of Public Health. "We have slowed the spread of the virus and we have avoided overwhelming our healthcare system as experienced by other communities across the country."

The rate of infection in Culver City stands at 1023 per 100,000 population. But it's much lower than the 100K levels at some neighboring cities, including Beverly Hills at 2115, Inglewood at 2,740 and the City of Los Angeles 2,926.

Testing results are available for more than 2,913,000 individuals with 9% of all people testing positive.