COVID-19 cases in LA County sway on edge of "high" levels

As COVID-19 cases climb in Los Angeles County, and a new indoor mask-wearing mandate is being considered by county health officials. 

Hospitalizations climbed slightly higher Wednesday, making LA teeter on "high" levels. 

Another 6,530 new infections were reported Wednesday. According to state figures, there were 1,170 COVID-positive patients in county hospitals as of Wednesday, up from 1,153 on Tuesday. Of those patients, 123 were being treated in intensive care units, up from 115 a day earlier.

Infection numbers have also been on the rise, thanks to the growing prevalence of the BA.4 and BA.5 variants, which health officials say are dramatically more infectious than previous strains.

Researchers at UC Davis said the virus has mutated to the point that it is getting many people sick, even if they are vaccinated and even if they recently had COVID-19. 

That's because it gets into cells faster and has a higher concentration of the virus, which makes it more contagious, health officials said. 

"In the past we were saying if you've been infected you were probably protected for about three months before immunity wears off," said Dr. Dean Blumberg, an infectious disease expert at UC Davis Health. "We just throw that out the window with this new strain." 

According to the county, roughly 40% of the patients were actually admitted for COVID illness, while about 60% were admitted for other reasons.

Along with the 6,530 new infections, the county Department of Public Health on Wednesday reported 15 more virus-related deaths. 

The steadily rising hospitalization number has put the county on the verge of moving into the "high" COVID activity level category, as defined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Ferrer told the Board of Supervisors this week the county is on pace to reach the "high" level as early as Thursday.

If the county remains in the "high" category for two straight weeks, a mandatory indoor mask-wearing mandate will be re-imposed in the county. Under the current pace, that would happen on July 29.

Supervisor Kathryn Barger urged Ferrer and health officials to conduct outreach to local businesses to discuss the impacts they could face, "especially when surrounding counties are not considering" a mandate.

Supervisor Sheila Kuehl again forcefully backed the idea of requiring masks, saying she has "no patience" for people who won't wear them.

"People are just not wearing them when they're not mandated," Kuehl said.

After months of steadily low COVID fatality numbers, Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer noted this week that the daily death figure has begun rising, hitting double- digits for all but one day in the past week.

The 15 new deaths announced Wednesday lifted the county's virus- elated death toll to 32,478. Health officials have said that a majority of the deaths occurred in people with at least one underlying health condition, mainly hypertension, diabetes and heart disease.

The 6,530 new cases reported Wednesday gave the county a cumulative total from throughout the pandemic of 3,189,901. Ferrer has said repeatedly that the daily infection number released by the county, while high, is still an undercount of actual case numbers, since many people now rely on at-home tests that are not reported to the health department.

The rolling average rate of people testing positive for the virus was 16.3% as of Wednesday.