Los Angeles, Ca
COVID case numbers no longer declining in L.A. County as BA.2 increases
Los Angeles County’s COVID-19 case numbers are now not declining and there was an improve within the circulation of the extremely infectious BA.2 subvariant, the county’s well being director mentioned on Thursday.
Up till just lately, the county had been seeing falling day by day case numbers because the area emerged from an omicron-fueled winter surge that overwhelmed testing websites and despatched an infection numbers skyrocketing.
As COVID-19 loosened its grip on the county, officers eased COVID-19 restrictions. Masks turned non-obligatory at many indoor areas and venues have been now not required to confirm folks’s vaccine standing.
Now, the county is now not seeing these declines.
“We’re about two months out from the height of our winter surge and have seen vital declines in our circumstances, hospitalizations, and deaths,” L.A. County Well being Director mentioned in an announcement. “Nevertheless, with case numbers now not lowering and will increase within the circulation of the extra infectious BA.2 subvariant in L.A. County, now could be the time for us to make use of the instruments at hand to lower each private and group danger: vaccination, testing, masking and therapeutics.”
Ferrer mentioned case charges are “leveling off” and it’s no shock.
“Sooner or later, we knew that it was possible we have been gonna cease declining as a result of we all know that there’s nonetheless transmission. We all know that there’s nonetheless people who find themselves getting uncovered,” Ferrer mentioned throughout a Thursday media briefing.
However Ferrer mentioned she needs ranges have been even decrease earlier than numbers started plateauing.
L.A. County’s general group ranges stay low, and its COVID-19 case price of 66 new circumstances per 100,000 folks continues to be under the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention’s goal of lower than 200 new circumstances per 100,000, Ferrer mentioned.
L.A. County is now averaging about 660 new COVID-19 circumstances every week.
“I want we have been at a decrease degree once we’re doing this plateauing. However we have now seen a big lower and that’s the excellent news,” Ferrer added.
Extra excellent news: COVID-19 hospitalization numbers are nonetheless declining.
There have been 308 folks hospitalized with COVID-19 on Thursday. Two weeks in the past, that quantity was nearer to 500, in keeping with the well being division.
Nonetheless, BA.2, a highly-contagious omicron subvariant, has been fueling considerations that COVID-19 may climb once more after weeks of declines following the winter surge.
Ferrer mentioned residents should be ready for the chance that BA.2 “may require further interventions and mitigation.”
BA.2 has been spreading in L.A. County, the place it accounted for 32% of all sequenced specimens through the week ending March 12. That’s double what it was the week earlier than.
Since information is from specimens that have been collected greater than two weeks in the past, and since BA.2 is extra infectious than earlier variations of the virus, well being authorities say it in all probability now accounts for a good greater proportion of COVID-19 circumstances in L.A. County.
The rise in L.A. County mirrors tendencies seen throughout the nation, with the World Well being Group asserting final week that BA.2 accounted for 86% of sequenced circumstances worldwide through the previous month.
The well being director urged residents to get vaccinated and boosted and masks up when in public.
“In an analogous approach that we take steps to be ready for fires and earthquakes, we now additionally must take preparedness actions that permit us to be secure throughout a pandemic,” Ferrer mentioned. “And identical to we don’t wait till there’s a hearth or an earthquake to make a plan, we don’t want to attend till we’re experiencing one other surge, to extend our safety.”
Los Angeles, Ca
Child sex predator in Southern California dies in jail
An inmate facing 11 felony charges at the Robert Presley Detention Center was pronounced dead in his cell, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office announced on Monday.
An inmate locator search showed that the deceased, who officials identified as 39-year-old Anthony Wayne Brooks of Riverside, faced 5 felony counts of lewd acts on a child under the age of 14, as well as charges for illegal gun possession, DUI, vandalism, paraphernalia and more.
According to the sheriff’s office, deputies found Brooks unresponsive in his housing unit cell on Sunday and attempted to perform life-saving measures until paramedics arrived.
However, despite their efforts, the sheriff’s office said Brooks was ultimately pronounced deceased.
“Investigators from the Riverside Sheriff’s Office Corrections Central Investigations Unit responded and assumed the investigation,” the sheriff’s office wrote in a release.
Investigators did not immediately find any signs of foul play, according to officials.
According to the inmate locator search, Brooks was arrested on June 6, 2023, by the Jurupa Valley Police Department and did not have bail posted. Brooks had a court date set in February 2025.
Three years earlier, the Riverside Police Department arrested Brooks on Aug. 7, 2020, for negligent discharge of a firearm, felon in possession of a firearm and high capacity magazine, and violations of both probation and Post Release Community Supervision, according to the department’s Facebook page.
At the time of his 2020 arrest, police said Brooks had been residing at a sober living house.
“During a search of the house, officers found a semi-automatic handgun, high capacity magazine, and numerous ammunition,” stated the department.
The sheriff’s office said Brooks’ death is an ongoing investigation, and that no further information was available as of Monday night.
Officials encourage anyone with information regarding this incident to contact Investigator Justin Williams at 951-922-7152.
Los Angeles, Ca
Stolen credit card, over $1K in merchandise found in Upland mail theft bust
Officers arrested two suspects for stealing mail, over $1,000 in merchandise and more in San Bernardino County, police announced on Monday evening.
The Upland Police Department wrote in an X post that officers received a call last week about two men breaking into mailboxes and driving a Mercedes that didn’t have license plates.
The department said officers were able to identify the suspect vehicle, “which started the shift challenge of who could find it first.”
An officer “didn’t take long” to find the Mercedes at a gas station at Foothill Boulevard and Benson Avenue, according to police.
“It also wasn’t hard to spot the two making a couple of trips to the trash can,” the department added.
Officers said they then stopped the car and found stolen mail from Upland, as well as drugs, burglary tools and paraphernalia.
Police also found more stolen mail after officers went back to the gas station and searched the trash.
In addition, Upland PD said officers found a sizeable amount of merchandise from a retail store as well as a receipt that showed a partial card number from the credit card used.
“In one of the guys’ wallets was a freshly stolen credit card with matching numbers,” wrote the department. “Turns out the card was just stolen, then used to ‘purchase’ over $1,000 in merchandise.”
Upland PD said officers arrested and booked the suspects for commercial burglary, felony identification theft, mail theft, narcotics and more. Officers also impounded the Mercedes.
“Great job to our vigilant citizens for reporting what they saw,” praised the department.
Los Angeles, Ca
Man, woman released after 17 years due to 'wrongful conviction' in East Los Angeles murder
A man and a woman who spent more than 17 years in prison for an East Hollywood murder had their convictions vacated, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced Monday.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge William C. Ryan also ordered the immediate release of Charlotte Pleytez and Lombardo Palacios who were imprisoned for the 2007 murder.
“I want to extend my deepest apologies to Ms. Pleytez and Mr. Palacios for the years of hardship they endured due to these wrongful convictions,” Hochman stated. “I also want to recognize the tragic loss of Hector Luis Flores and share my heartfelt condolences with his family. His death is a painful reminder of the heavy responsibility we bear to ensure justice not only holds the right people accountable but also honors the lives of victims and their families.”
Flores was fatally shot during a verbal altercation in a shopping center parking lot in the 5200 block of Sunset Boulevard on March 28, 2007.
Pleytez and Palacios were arrested following eyewitness identifications and other circumstantial evidence, the DA’s Office stated.
Palacios and Pleytez were convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to 50 years to life in prison but years later, the DA’s Office was asked to revisit the case.
“We are reluctant to say justice has been done, because the injustices our clients have suffered for nearly two decades are unfathomable, but this is definitely a cause for celebration,” said attorney Matt Lombard.
The District Attorney said that there was no evidence to suggest that law enforcement or prosecutors acted inappropriately during the case. “The request for relief in this case was based entirely on new evidence uncovered by the joint CRU and defense investigation,” Hochman stated.
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