Los Angeles County reported another 46 deaths related to the novel coronavirus on Tuesday, April 21, plus 1,400 new confirmed cases. While acknowledging the enduring heartbreak for loved ones of the victims, Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer called the county’s trend line a “plateau,” rather than a spike

“That seems to be the pattern not just in our county but others in California,” Ferrer said, noting that L.A. County has thus far not attained the alarming death rates projected by some experts early in the crisis. At the time, officials feared that such an eruption of cases could have overwhelmed the healthcare system.

“Rather than a steep rise,” Ferrer said, “we have continued to live on a plateau with little rises and little dips.”

Among the additional 1,400 confirmed cases, 880 test results were attributed to a backlog at test labs, Ferrer said, including at those labs that don’t report their data electronically.

Nonetheless, Ferrer and other county leaders said Tuesday they were no closer to lifting the stay-at-home orders.

Even if county officials wanted to ease up on the rules, Ferrer said, they must follow the lead of Gov. Gavin Newsom. By law, the county cannot make its rules less restrictive than the state’s own emergency orders.

“I don’t think May 15 is a magic date or a number,” Ferrer said. “We have to take responsibility for the 10 million people in LA County. I promise we’re heading into recovery. But those decisions must be made in a way that doesn’t come with consequences.”

District 1 Supervisor Hilda Solis said the decision would be based on data and science — not emotion.

“We do want to get the best scientific data to drive our decisions, and we know that we can’t be foolish,” Solis said. “Just because there are voices expressing concerns about opening up as soon as possible, might not be the situation we want to be in.”

Amid scattered protests calling for the easing of restrictions, public officials fear residents growing complacent, ignoring social-distancing rules and triggering a second, possibly more deadly, wave of the virus. Since the outbreak began, 663 people have lost their lives in LA County to COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Among those whose deaths were reported Tuesday, 33 were over the age of 65, all but six of whom had underlying health conditions. Four people were 41 to 65 years old, all but one of whom had health problems. Two people were 18 to 40, one of whom had underlying health problems.

At midday, updated numbers were not available for Pasadena and Long Beach, which operate their own health departments. Pasadena reported 12 new cases for a total of 261 confirmed, including three new deaths, bringing the city’s death toll to 28. Long Beach reported no new deaths to its total of 24, but added 13 new cases, bringing its total to 477 since the outbreak began.

As of Tuesday, there were more than 15,000 confirmed positive cases of the virus in L.A. County. However, as researchers pointed out in a new study based on antibody testing released Monday, the actual number could be as much as 55 times higher.

Roughly 25% of those who tested positive have required hospitalization at one time and 1,739 were currently in the hospital, among them 31% in intensive care units and 18% on ventilators. The number of cases at institutional settings rose to 2,913 at 269 facilities. Nearly 38% of all deaths related to COVID-19 were residents at skilled nursing facilities.

Ferrer also said that 200 individuals experiencing homelessness were tested at the Union Rescue Mission, with the first 82 test results showing 43 positive cases. Just 16 were symptomatic, meaning 63% were asymptomatic and could be spreading the virus.

In general, Ferrer said, the ability of asymptomatic people to spread the coronavirus has been an area where public health has struggled to contain the virus.

“Our original sense was that those spreading the virus were symptomatic,” Ferrer said. “But that turned out not to be true.”