Health officials urge vigilance ahead of spring holidays

With coronavirus case numbers slowly on the rise, the consequence of the highly infectious BA.2 subvariant spreading, Los Angeles County health officials on Friday again preached vigilance, particularly as the spring holidays approach.

“While the county has made great strides in keeping outbreaks in many sectors low through a number of safety measures,” county Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said in a statement, “there are millions of vulnerable residents in our communities, many of whom are neighbors, family members, or co-workers.

“For these individuals, increasing transmission associated with the BA.2 subvariant poses a very real threat,” she added. “As many of us prepare to gather for upcoming spring holidays, getting vaccinated or boosted, wearing a mask indoors in public places, and testing before and after gathering protects those most vulnerable and helps keep transmission lower across our communities.”

The county has seen a rise in daily COVID-19 infections recently, correlating with the local spread of BA.2, which is an offshoot of the omicron variant that fueled a winter surge in cases. Considered far more infectious than omicron, BA.2 is being blamed for infection spikes in areas such as Australia and the United Kingdom.

The county's average number of daily new COVID-19 infections over the past seven days, as of Friday, was 892, up from 724 during the previous seven days — a 23% increase.

Another 1,263 new cases were reported Friday, raising the overall pandemic total to 2,843,599. The sevenday average daily rate of people testing positive for the virus rose slightly to 1.2% on Friday, up from 1% a day earlier.

BA.2 represented 47% of all cases in the county that underwent specialized testing to identify coronavirus variants this week, Ferrer said on Thursday. The percentage is likely higher, she said, since the data reflects cases from two weeks ago. During the previous week, BA.2 represented 32% of infections, up from 16% the week prior to that.

Yet, despite BA.2 increasing its foothold in the county and causing cases to rise, hospitalizations and deaths have not yet increased in a similar manner — a likely result of the county's overall 75% vaccination rate, as well as people carrying virus protection because of a prior infection.

The number of COVID-19-positive patients in county hospitals, Ferrer said Thursday, has remained below 300, and the number of daily deaths attributed to the virus has continued falling, averaging 13 per day over the past week, compared to 17 per day a week earlier.

There were 275 COVID19-positive patients in county hospitals as of Friday, up slightly from 273 on Thursday, according to state figures. The number of those patients being treated in intensive care was 39, up one from a day earlier.

The county reported another 16 virus-related deaths on Friday, raising the cumulative death toll to 31,770.

“While the county has made great strides in keeping outbreaks in many sectors low through a number of safety measures ... there are millions of vulnerable residents in our communities, many of whom are neighbors, family members, or co-workers.”

— L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer