Los Angeles County officials on Tuesday announced 59 additional deaths linked to the coronavirus, sending the county’s toll past 1,000 and marking another dramatic increase in the number of daily deaths reported.

Residents in institutional settings account for 46% of all deaths, the county said. The majority of the 462 who died in those facilities were nursing home residents.

Public health officials also reported 597 new cases of the virus, bringing the number of people who have been infected in the county to nearly 21,000. Of those, 4,507 have been hospitalized at some point.

1 / 37 Drive-through COVID-19 testing in Boyle Heights. Experts say widespread testing is crucial for states to be able to safely reopen their economies. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 37 Testing in Boyle Heights. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 37 A testing sample is sealed. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 37 Putting on personal protective equipment before testing. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 37 Testing in Boyle Heights. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 37 A patient is screened before testing. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 37 Information is collected from a patient. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 37 Boyle Heights COVID-19 testing. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 37 Juan Infante, a certified medical assistant, takes the temperature of a patient before she gets tested. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 37 Carson City Mayor Albert Robles does self-testing at a new drive-up testing site for COVID-19 outside of a community center in Carson. Free COVID-19 testing is available to all city residents. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 37 Carson residents Kaeli Burks, 3, left, and her cousin Bailey Watson, 5, look out the window of their car after their mothers helped them with self-testing at a drive-up testing site for COVID-19 in Carson. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 37 A Carson resident passes a sealed self-test to a health official at a drive-up testing site. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 13 / 37 Carson resident Melvin Smith, 64, does self-testing. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times) 14 / 37 A person drops a specimen at a COVID-19 mobile testing site in Bell. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times) 15 / 37 A person swabs their mouth at a COVID-19 mobile testing site in Bell. (Christina House / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 37 A man talks with a healthcare worker outside Kedren Community Health Center in South LA, where they are offering walk-up coronavirus testing along with other medical services. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times) 17 / 37 A specimen is turned in at the new mobile testing site for people with symptoms of the coronavirus at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in South Los Angeles. (Christina House/Los Angeles Times) 18 / 37 A portrait and quote by Martin Luther King, Jr. overlooks a new mobile testing site for people with symptoms of the coronavirus at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in South Los Angeles. (Christina House/Los Angeles Times) 19 / 37 Julie Montez, right, sits in her car as a nurse administers a coronavirus test at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times) 20 / 37 Nurses pose for a fun photo between breaks at a drive-through public testing for coronavirus at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times) 21 / 37 Healthcare workers tend to a driver in line at a drive-through Coronavirus (COVID-19) testing site at the Westminster Mall in Westminster. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times) 22 / 37 Healthcare workers tend to a driver in line at a drive-through Coronavirus testing site at the Westminster Mall in Westminster. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times) 23 / 37 Gessie Lurlay is working as a coronavirus screener at the Camarena Health Center in Madera. (Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times) 24 / 37 Francis Gon-Gibbs, of LA County Fire Department Lifeguard Division, stands at the entrance of a new mobile testing site for people with symptoms of the coronavirus at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in South Los Angeles. (Christina House/Los Angeles Times) 25 / 37 A man drops off his self-administered COVID-19 test in a blue bin at a drive-up test site at the Veterans Administration Parking Lot 15 outside of Jackie Robinson Stadium in Los Angeles. (Genaro Molina/Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times) 26 / 37 Workers direct drivers at a drive-up test site for COVID-19 at the Veterans Administration Parking Lot 15 outside of Jackie Robinson Stadium in Los Angeles. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times) 27 / 37 A man misses the blue bin while dropping off his self-administered COVID-19 test at a drive-up test site at the Veterans Administration Parking Lot 15 outside of Jackie Robinson Stadium in Los Angeles. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times) 28 / 37 Workers help conduct drive-thru coronavirus testing at Crenshaw Christian Center in South Los Angeles. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times) 29 / 37 A sign directs people to drive-thru coronavirus testing at Crenshaw Christian Center in South Los Angeles. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times) 30 / 37 Cassidy Roosen, with Beach Cities Health District, holds up a sign that says, “We’re All In This Together,” while waiting to direct cars at a drive-through, appointment-only coronavirus testing location, at the South Bay Galleria, in Redondo Beach. (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times) 31 / 37 A woman shows her notice from her doctor that allows her to obtain a test for COVID-19 at a new drive-up testing site in a parking lot at the South Bay Galleria in Redondo Beach. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times) 32 / 37 Coronavirus CO drive-thru sample collection takes place at the county fairgrounds in Victorville. (Irfan Khan/Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times) 33 / 37 San Bernardino County health care worker takes a sample at a coronavirus drive-thru sample collection that took place at the county fairgrounds in Victorville. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times) 34 / 37 Motorists, line up on Stadium Way, near Dodger Stadium, waiting to enter a parking lot and be tested for the coronavirus. (Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times) 35 / 37 Members of the Los Angeles Fire Dept. wear protective gear while handing out kits to people to swab the inside of their mouths to test for the coronavirus, inside a parking lot on Stadium Way, near Dodger Stadium. (Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times) 36 / 37 Riverside County medical personnel screen a car of load of four people at a coronavirus drive-though testing facility for Coachella Valley residents in the parking lot of the Southwest in Indian Wells. (Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times) 37 / 37 Aerial views cars lined up for drive-through coronavirus testing inside a parking lot on Stadium Way near Dodger Stadium. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)


More than 133,000 of L.A. County’s 10 million residents have been tested for the virus.

The news comes 40 days after California issued its stay-at-home order. When the mandate was implemented March 19 in an effort to stem the spread of the coronavirus, most counties went beyond the state’s guidelines to impose more stringent policies, each with varying expiration dates.

Some counties, like San Francisco, took measures well before the governor shuttered all nonessential businesses and mandated that all Californians should stay home and restrict their social interactions.

Now, several places have begun to ease local restrictions. Golf courses and beaches have reopened in some areas. Other areas are petitioning the governor to be allowed to open restaurants and places of worship


Many have argued their regions have already flattened the curve in the fight against the coronavirus and that the shuttered economy is hurting them financially.

L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti announced Tuesday a deal with mask manufacturer Honeywell to procure 24 million N95 masks — at cost — to distribute to first responders and hospitals in need.

The city will get 100,000 masks in May, 500,000 more in July and 1.2 million per month by November, Garcetti said.

“These will be life savers, quite literally,” Garcetti said.


The announcement comes as hospitals grapple with a nationwide shortage of protective gear and a rise in price-gouging and counterfeit masks. Officials said L.A. County alone burns through 5 million masks a month.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva announced an initiative Monday to decontaminate N95 masks that will allow first responders and healthcare workers countywide to safely reuse them up to 20 times as they battle the coronavirus.

All the while, the number of COVID-19 cases — and deaths — continue to climb in the state. There have been more than 46,000 infections and over 1,800 deaths in California.


The state for the first time earlier this week reported that nearly 40% of deaths have occurred at skilled nursing facilities and assisted living facilities. As of April 28, 578 residents of nursing homes had died. As of April 25, 144 deaths had occurred in assisted living facilites. Additionally, 11 health care workers have died after contracting the virus in a nursing home setting.

The state has refused a request to identify where the deaths occurred. Also, the newly released data is incomplete, a Los Angeles Times analysis found, missing multiple facilities with known outbreaks and not including facilities with six or fewer beds, of which there are hundreds.

Mike Dark, staff attorney at California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, a San Francisco-based nonprofit that advocates for people in long-term care, said during a town hall Tuesday that he believes the numbers represent an undercount.

While Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday said there were outbreaks in 192 of 1,224 skilled nursing facilities in the state, Dark said he believes, “the virus is widespread in California facilities.”


The data also only includes deaths known by the facility, according to a state spokeswoman. It may not include deaths that occurred after a resident was transferred to a hospital, a private home, or other location.

Faced with the mounting toll, industry lobbyists have petitioned Newsom to protect them from liability.

Dark said that removal of liability would remove “one of the last safety nets residents in these facilities have.”

Garcetti said that nearly 5,000 residents and staff of skilled nursing facilities across the city have been tested, and officials are working to test more.


On Tuesday, Newsom unveiled a four-stage plan for reopening the state. The plan requires that all 58 counties have the ability to perform contact tracing to track the potential spread of the virus.

The first modifications of the stay-at-home order, affecting low-risk workplaces such as retail spaces and child-care facilities, are expected to roll out within weeks, Newsom said. But it could take months before higher-risk spaces, including movie theaters, concert venues and gyms, are reopened.

“Our stores will look different. Offices will operate differently. But we will be healthier,” Newsom said of what’s ahead.

One notable portion of the governor’s plan includes the possibility that K-12 schools will be allowed to begin the academic year early to make up for lost learning over the last few months.


In Los Angeles County — the state’s most populous region — officials are also developing a plan to ease the Safer at Home order, which is set to expire May 15. Public Health Department director Barbara Ferrer said Tuesday there were no plans to extend the current order, but as the deadline approaches, officials will reevaluate what is best for the county.

More than 20,000 in the county of 10 million have tested positive for the virus, and nearly 950 have died. County officials have warned the public that although social distancing practices have worked to slow the spread of the virus, the number of those who have been infected is likely far higher than the official count.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed a motion Tuesday to establish an action plan to work with local businesses, labor partners and community leaders to lift restrictions.


Supervisor Janice Hahn, echoing an earlier statement by Newsom, said gradually lifting restrictions would not be like flipping a switch: “It’s more like a dimmer.”

“I would caution everyone from thinking that we have an end in sight, or we’re nearing the end of this unprecedented tragedy,” Hahn said. “This is not going to just go away. Coronavirus is going to be around forever, and without a vaccine to prevent us from getting the virus or a therapeutic drug to treat you, we need to really be cautious in how we reopen our society.”

The framework, co-authored by Supervisors Kathryn Barger and Hilda Solis, lays out a set of priorities:



Reopening of the economy through an economic resilience task force Recovery through a permanent 501c fund Reinvention among businesses concerning how they function, including using continued telecommuting services Resurgence of the economy through a doubling of L.A. County Works initiative Resiliency concerning educational efforts for youth

“This is a dark time for everyone,” Hahn said. “I don’t think we should be persuaded by petitions or people pressuring us to reopen too soon.”


In six San Francisco Bay Area counties, stay-at-home orders have been extended through the end of May, with some restrictions expected to be lifted before then.

Meanwhile in El Dorado County, where infections have tapered off after 43 infections have been confirmed and zero deaths have been reported, the public health officer is allowing the county’s stay-at-home directive to expire Thursday, its original expiration date.

Lifting local restrictions are allowed as long as they don’t undermine the state’s guidelines, Newsom has said.