KTLA5, LOS ANGELES – While cases of the delta variant surged in Los Angeles County this summer, unvaccinated residents were fives times more likely to get infected and 29 times more likely to get hospitalized with COVID-19 than those who had already been inoculated
The findings were reported in a new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The population-based analysis concluded that fully vaccinated people over the age of 16 who were infected with the virus were less likely than unvaccinated people:
- to be hospitalized,
- to be admitted to an intensive care unit,
- to require mechanical ventilation,
- or to die from COVID infection during a period when the delta variant became predominant.
The study looked at the period from May 1 to July 25, when the delta variant became most prevalent form the virus in the county.
During that time, there were more than 43,000 infections in L.A. County residents over the age of 16.
Of that total, around 30,800, or 71.4%, were in unvaccinated people, while 10,895, or 25.3%, were in fully vaccinated people and about 1,400, or 3.3%, were in partially vaccinated people.
Exactly one month ago, on July 25, the infection rate among unvaccinated people was 4.9 times the rate among fully vaccinated people, and the hospitalization rate was 29.2 times the rate among fully vaccinated people, the analysis found.
The study also showed fully vaccinated people with the virus were hospitalized at a lower rate, 3.2%, with those admitted to an intensive care unit at 0.5% and those requiring mechanical ventilation at 0.2%.
These figures compare with partially vaccinated people at 6.2% hospitalized, 1% admitted to an ICU, and 0.3% requiring mechanical ventilation.
And among unvaccinated people, the figures were 7.6% hospitalized, 1.5% in an ICU, and 0.5% requiring mechanical ventilation.
