text: L.A. could reimpose stay-at-home order amid COVID-19 spike - Los Angeles Times
  Some pedestrians wear masks, others don't, in downtown Los Angeles on June 25.
  July 9, 2020 Updated 3:18 PM PT
  In Los Angeles County, the single-day death toll of 61 Wednesday was the highest since June 2. The county announced 50 new fatalities Thursday, boosting the death toll to nearly 3,700, according to Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer.
  The number of infections also continues to rise — with 1,777 new cases announced Thursday, pushing the total past 124,000 — as do the positivity rate and the number of hospitalizations, she said.
  As of Thursday, Ferrer said, 2,037 COVID-19 patients were hospitalized countywide. Four weeks ago, the number of daily hospitalizations ranged from 1,350 to 1,450.
  However, "deaths are down, conclusively," Ferrer said. "We think, obviously, that they're likely to go back up."
  The vast majority of those who have died in the county, about 93%, had some kind of underlying health condition, she said.
  Officials also continue to note worrying disparities in how the coronavirus affects residents of color. Compared to white people, "Latino/Latinx people are more than twice as likely to contract the virus and are also twice as likely to die," while Black Angelenos "are 27% more likely to contract the virus and almost twice as likely to die," according to county statistics.
  "These, like so many of the data points that I report to you, are disheartening and distressing," Ferrer said. "And they actually emphasize the need for us to do more so we can address the inequities across our communities."
  Regarding the possibility of reimposing a countywide stay-at-home order, Ferrer said that "nothing can be off the table in the pandemic," but that she personally hopes "we don't have to go back there. I hope that we figure out a way to take care of each other, to be sensible about what we're doing."
  "Even if you don't want them to … your actions can have an impact on somebody like me, so we're just tied together here as a community and we have to work together to get to the other side," she said.
  Health officials have said the seeds of the state's recent surge were probably planted around Memorial Day, when additional businesses began to reopen and people started going out and gathering together more.
  Crowds also took to the streets in California and around the nation to protest police brutality and racial injustice in the wake of the May 25 death of George Floyd. However, the impact of those demonstrations on coronavirus spread remains a matter of debate.
  Other key components of California's coronavirus response include testing and contact tracing of those who are found to be infected.
  However, there have been issues in those areas amid the recent spikes. As demand for testing has begun to outpace availability, officials in L.A. County are now prioritizing testing for those who are either showing symptoms, work in a high-risk environment or have come in contact with a person known to have been exposed to the virus.