Dear Friend --
Our COVID-19 positivity rate is the percentage of people who test for the virus who come back positive. At our highest point a couple of weeks ago, the Long Beach seven day average more than 15%, then we dropped to 14%, and now we are at 13%. This is still much higher than we would like but we are starting to head in the right direction.
We need to get to 8% to stabilize community transmission. So how do we get there?
Here’s how we do it:
1) Increase testing. We have already increased daily testing from 1,000 tests a day to 1,400. And we are working with community partners and businesses to increase those numbers even more. Knowing you're positive and stopping transmission is critical to slowing down the virus.
2) Innovate contact tracing. We already have a team of health officials who contact residents who may have been exposed to COVID-19. Now we are working with new technology to launch apps and online tools to make this process easier, faster, and more effective.
3) Small business compliance. Our business community plays a key role in slowing down this virus. And a vast majority of them are doing a great job of keeping people safe. We need to continue to enforce health orders and partner with the business community to ensure we are creating safe spaces for people.
4) Wear a mask. The science is clear. Wearing a mask dramatically decreases your chances of transmitting COVID-19 and becoming infected yourself. We still need to physically distance, but if we all wore masks whenever possible, we would see major decreases in transmission. And remember all Long Beach businesses require you to wear one unless you are sitting down and eating food.
5) Personal responsibility. If we can work to limit interactions, wash our hands, and distance from each other, we can make a huge difference in fighting COVID-19. The ability to stop infection and defeat this disease is up to each of us individually.
Of course there are other ways to slow transmission, but these five things are critical to our future success as a community. Let’s continue to keep reducing our positivity rate, saving lives, and supporting our nurses and doctors.
Thank you,
Mayor Robert Garcia
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Robert Garcia - Mayor of Long Beach - 411 W Ocean Blvd 11th Floor, Long Beach, CA 90802, United States
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