| Yesterday afternoon, the L.A. County Department of Public Health announced 60 new coronavirus cases across the county, including the first case in Lakewood. The total number of cases in the county is 409 as of Sunday, March 22 at 3 p.m. Lakewood officials have been in touch with County officials about the news, and here’s what we can tell you. The patient is being isolated for their safety and the safety of the community.Dept. of Public Health staff will do “contact tracing” to determine how the patient contracted the virus and who they may have contacted afterwards. Those people will be contacted and will be ordered to follow public health protocols for their safety and the community’s safety.If there is any reason to believe a large number of people may have been in contact with the patient, then a more general public notification of where the patient visited will be made.The Dept. of Public Health told Lakewood officials that there is likely an “undercount” of cases right now in L.A. County. So there are probably cases in every community at this point, and more than have been reported, including in Lakewood. That underscores the need for residents in Lakewood and every community to take social distancing and hygiene protocols very seriously. |
