LAKE SUCCESS, NY – MARCH 11: A lab technician begins semi-automated testing for COVID-19 at Northwell Health Labs on March 11, 2020 in Lake Success, New York. An emergency use authorization by the FDA allows Northwell to move from manual testing to semi-automated. (Photo by Andrew Theodorakis/Getty Images) A woman has become the first person to have died from the coronavirus in Los Angeles County.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer announced the death on March 11 during a press conference. Ferrer said the woman, who was in her 60s, was not from the county but was visiting friends in the county. She had recently traveled, which included a lengthy layover in South Korea.
Ferrer also announced that there were six new cases of coronavirus in the county, bringing the current total of cases in the county to 27. Three of the new cases were in household contact with someone who already tested positive for the virus; two of the new cases had recently traveled and one case is believed to be a community transmission.
“We all know that there are more cases in our community that have yet to be diagnosed and we need everyone to help us try to slow the spread of this infection,” Ferrer said, urging everyone to engage in “social distancing.”
One of the cases in Los Angeles County is believed to be a parent of a student at Hillel Harkham Hebrew County who attended the America Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference in Washington, D.C. from March 1-3. A Riverside County resident who tested positive for the virus attended the StandWithUs AIPAC reception at the Renaissance Hotel on March 1. There have been at least six reported instances of AIPAC attendees testing positive for coronavirus.
The full press conference can be seen below:
https://www.facebook.com/lapublichealth/videos/256672045332633/
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.