As of Saturday, there had been 554,048 reported cases in California with 10, 315 deaths due to Coronavirus and 6,956 current hospitalizatons. There are reports that technical issues with compliation software may have led to a significant undercount. In Los Angeles County there were 2645 new cases the past week and 51 more fatalities. In LA County there have been 206,761 cases and 4,967 deaths so far. 

The US has seen 4,971,190 cases and 161,906 deaths due to COVID-19. More than 10% of all deaths in the US in 2020 are from Coronavirus infections. This past wek there were 52,263 new cases and 1,169 new fatalities from the disease in the US. 

From Fair Warning news website:

Grim Outlook: Covid-19 deaths in the United States are predicted to reach almost 300,000 by December 1, the Associated Press reports. A University of Washington model is forecasting 295,011 deaths—135,000 more than the current toll of just over 160,000 confirmed fatalities. The model assumes that many states will enforce new stay-at-home orders as the death toll rises. It’s one of about 30 forecasts monitored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Together, these models predict between 168,000 and 182,000 deaths by August 22.

At least 1,036 new deaths and 57,128 new cases were reported on Thursday, according to The New York Times. Confirmed cases in the U.S. are about 4.9 million, over 25 percent of the global total of more than 19.1 million infections. U.S. deaths account for more than 20 percent of the worldwide toll of over 716,000 people killed by Covid-19, according to the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus tracker.
 
  • Also:  Times analysis found that 41 percent of those killed in the U.S. have been residents or workers at nursing homes and long-term care centers, where more than 362,000 people in 16,000 facilities have been infected.

Stalemate: As of this writing, Congress has not reached a deal on a new Covid-19 relief package. The last relief legislation, which included an extra $600 per week in unemployment benefits and a moratorium on certain evictions, expired at the end of July. President Trump did promise executive action to restore $400 additional unemployment coverage and other measures.

Nearly 1.2 million people applied for jobless benefits in the past week, a decline from some recent weeks. Still, it was 20th straight week of more than one million unemployment filings, reports the Associated Press. 

Frustrated by the stalemate and down in the polls with just 90 days to go before the November election, President Trump appears ready to take unilateral action if Congress cannot come to an agreement, according to The Hill. “At some point you have to understand that they’re not willing to make a deal. And that’s why the president is prepared to take executive action,” Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, told reporters.

Genevieve Morrill of the West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce authored an Op Ed piece that was publishedlast Monday in the LA Times related to the efforts of the California Coalition for Safe Reopening. You can read the Op Ed here: Op-Ed: A ‘COVID safe’ business certification could help end the open-closed-open madness. The Pasadena Chamber is one of the founding organizations of the Coalition. if you are interested in being part of the effort, click here for more info.

LA County/LISC Grants:

There will be 3 more rounds of grant funding for the Regional COVID-19 Relief Grants program. The grants will be in increments of $5K and $15K.  The 3rd round of funding ends today at 11:59 pm, but if you miss this round, there will be additional rounds all based on a lottery system;

  • Round 3: August 3 – August 7
  • Round 4: August 17 – August 21
  • Round 5: August 31 – September 4
  • Round 6: September 14 – September 18

Apply for the Grants