Good evening, SoCal. We're wrapping up the day for you with the most important stories you need to know and your weather outlook.
Your Weather Planner
Mid and high-level clouds will continue to stream through Southern California Friday, bringing a slight chance of isolated thunderstorms, mainly for mountain communities.
Temperatures start cooling down Friday, but remains hot inland and in the deserts. It will be much cooler late this weekend into early next week.
Tomorrow's Highs
Get your 7-day forecast: LA West | LA East | San Fernando Valley/Ventura County | Orange County
Today's Big Stories
1. COVID continues relentless spread in LA County, even among vaccinated residents
A relentless surge of COVID-19 cases continued Thursday in Los Angeles County as another 2,700 cases were reported, with the percentage of infections occurring among fully vaccinated residents steadily rising.
In fact, during the month of June, 20% of all newly reported COVID infections in the county occurred among people who had been fully vaccinated. That was up from 11% in May and 5% in April. But Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said the increase is normal given the continued rise in the number of people who are getting fully vaccinated.
She also stressed that fully vaccinated people who become infected generally have extremely mild cases — a benefit the vaccines have always promised.
"Very few of them ended up hospitalized, and even smaller numbers ended up passing away," Ferrer said. "So yes, if you are fully vaccinated you have a lot of protection, which is what the vaccines have always been best at — protecting people from serious illness and death. And these vaccines, even with the `delta' variant, are holding up really well."
According to the county, among roughly 4.85 million fully vaccinated residents from Jan. 19 through Tuesday, 6,520 tested positive for the virus, for a rate of 0.13%. That's up from a rate of 0.09% last week.
Of the fully vaccinated people in that period who tested positive, only 287 were hospitalized, for a rate of 0.0059% of the vaccinated population, up from 0.0045% last week. There were 30 vaccinated people who died, a rate of 0.0006%.
2. Orange County COVID-19 cases continue upward swing
Orange County's hospitalizations for COVID-19 continued its uptick Thursday as more than 300 additional infections were reported.
The county reported 304 more COVID-19 infections, hiking up the cumulative to 260,289.
Hospitalizations increased from 143 on Wednesday to 149, with the number of intensive care unit patients jumping from 35 to 39.
Orange County Board of Supervisors Vice Chairman Doug Chaffee told City News Service that the board will consider accepting a $4.5 million state grant to help with coronavirus vaccine outreach.
Access to vaccines is not an issue, Chaffee said, but outreach is still important as officials grapple with convincing the vaccine-resistant population to get inoculated.
"With the delta variant hitting people not vaccinated, that's where we need to go," Chaffee said. "This is state money and we should take advantage of it."
3. West Nile virus positive mosquitoes confirmed in LA County
The Greater Los Angeles County Vector Control District Thursday announced the first West Nile virus positive mosquito samples to be confirmed this year in its service area.
The positive mosquito samples were collected from mosquito traps in Bellflower (90706), Studio City (91602), and Tarzana (91356), confirming the presence of the virus in mosquito populations within the community. Results for additional samples are pending.
GLACVCD officials noted that while this confirmation serves as the District's first positive West Nile virus mosquito pool this year, virus activity has been increasing steadily throughout California, including in other vector control jurisdictions within the county. Additionally, a dead bird located in Valley Village was confirmed positive for WNV.
"West Nile virus is detected every summer by local public health agencies because it is endemic to Los Angeles County," said Susanne Kluh, director of Scientific-Technical Services at GLACVCD. "This virus is spread through our bird population and transmitted to humans with the bite of an infected mosquito."
Because there is no human vaccine for West Nile Virus, residents must be proactive against mosquito bites by wearing insect repellent. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend products with the active ingredients DEET, Picaridin, IR3535, or oil of lemon eucalyptus as being safe and effective against mosquitoes that can transmit disease when used according to the labels.
4. California's recall ballot is set, but GOP strategy isn't
California’s recall ballot is finally set, but the Republican party is still determining its best strategy for winning the governor's office in one of the nation's most Democratic states.
With less than a month until ballots start showing up in voters' mailboxes for the Sept. 14 election, the GOP has no clear favorite and must decide whether to unite behind one candidate in the bid to replace Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. If the party does, it carries the risk of alienating supporters of the hopefuls who don't get the nod and depressing turnout.
Meanwhile, Newson has a giant fundraising edge. He has collected more than $31 million since March from donors contributing $1,000 or more while the two main pro-recall committees combined for about $5 million since December. There also is the stark reality that Democrats hold nearly 2-to-1 registration edge over Republicans, who haven't won a statewide election in 15 years and are banking on frustration with Newsom's handling of the pandemic to attract voters outside the GOP.
5. Biden administration imposes new Cuba sanctions over human rights abuses
The Biden administration announced new sanctions Thursday against a Cuban official and a government special brigade that it says was involved in human rights abuses during a government crackdown on protests on the island earlier this month.
“I unequivocally condemn the mass detentions and sham trials that are unjustly sentencing to prison those who dared to speak out in an effort to intimidate and threaten the Cuban people into silence,” President Joe Biden said in a statement. “The Cuban people have the same right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly as all people.”
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control listed Alvaro Lopez Miera, a Cuban military and political leader, and the Brigada Especial Nacional del Ministerio del Interior, or Interior Ministry Special Brigade, as among those who will face the latest sanctions.
Treasury said in a statement that Lopez Miera “has played an integral role in the repression of ongoing protests in Cuba.” Cuba’s Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, which is led to by Lopez Miera, and other Cuban government’s security services have attacked protesters and arrested or disappeared over 100 protesters in an attempt to suppress these protests, according to Treasury.
Your Notes for Tomorrow
- Tokyo 2021 Olympics Opening Ceremonony
- First Lady Dr. Jill Biden set to attend Olympics Opening Ceremony
- Olympics: Male Gymnastics Competition
- Virtual San-Diego Conic-con starts
- Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein at the State Department
- President Biden participates in campaign event for Dem Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe
In Case You Missed It
How Disney made Spiderman fly over Avengers Campus
Tucked away between the Disney California Adventure Park and Cars Land entrance is the new Avengers Campus featuring characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, including fan-favorite Spider-Man.
Disney Imagineers have created new "stuntronics" technology to merge both human and android skills.
In an interview for "LA Times Today," Christi Carras joined host Lisa McRee to explain the magic.