Los Angeles County COVID Cases Up 40% Over Past Week

April 29, 2022 — Coronavirus cases in Los Angeles County increased 40% during the past week, and hospitalizations have begun to rise as well, according to the  Los Angeles Times.

Health officials aren’t yet sounding alarm bells about the numbers, the newspaper reported, though they indicated that the trends show an ongoing rise in virus transmission.

“Since the beginning of the pandemic, we’ve all had to make choices about how to best protect ourselves and others from COVID-19,” Barbara Ferrer, the county’s public health director, told reporters on Thursday.

Ferrer called the latest increase “pretty significant” and encouraged people to take actions to limit the spread of the virus.

“With cases on the rise, the potential for more contagious variants, and lots of opportunities to be exposed, this is a great time to make a choice to get vaccinated or boosted and to wear a mask or respirator when you’re indoors and around others,” she said.

During the past week, the county has reported an average of about 1,765 new cases per day, which is up from about 1,260 daily cases a week ago and double the 880 daily cases reported in early April.

Per capita, the county’s case rate has risen to 122 cases a week per 100,000 residents, the newspaper reported. The case rate exceeded 100 during the previous weekend, meaning that the nation’s most populous county now has a high rate of transmission again for the first time since early March.

The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients has also increased during the past week after months of decline. On Friday, 253 patients were hospitalized, according to state data, up from 209 the week before.

The BA.2 subvariant accounts for about 88% cases in Los Angeles, the newspaper reported. The more recent Omicron subvariant, known as BA.2.12.1, accounts for a majority of cases in New York and New Jersey and will likely become dominant in California in the coming days, Ferrer said.

Wastewater surveillance also shows that coronavirus levels have doubled across large parts of Los Angeles during the past two weeks, the newspaper reported. Nursing homes, workplaces, and schools have also reported an increase in the number of outbreaks in the past two weeks.

“So let’s continue to be cautious,” Ferrer said.

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