LA County rise in COVID-19 cases may lead to strongly recommended indoor masking
There's a reported rise in COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations within LA County and health officials say they may "strongly recommend" indoor masking should infection numbers continue to edge up.
The latest figures come as county officials are reporting increases in COVID-19 infection rates. Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said Thursday that the county had an average of about 1,300 new COVID cases per day last week, up from about 1,000 per day the previous week. She said the daily average case numbers have been "slowly but steadily increasing" since the beginning of November.
The weekly average infection rate is on the rise, with 86 cases per 100,000 residents last week, up from 65 per 100,000 residents two weeks ago, Ferrer said. If that average rises to 100 cases per 100,000 residents per week, this is when the county would "strongly recommend" that people wear masks indoors. Mask wearing is currently only a matter of personal preference, unless an individual location or business opts to require them.
The number of COVID-positive patients in Los Angeles County hospitals is back up to over 500 today. Virus-related deaths are averaging about seven per day, down from 10-12 per day in early November, but Ferrer said deaths are considered a lagging indicator, meaning the numbers could rise in coming weeks in response to the increases in infections and hospitalizations.
Health officials have been expressing concern about a possible winter COVID surge, as experienced over the past two years during the winter months. They noted that cooler temperatures lead to more people spending time indoors in more crowded, less-ventilated spaces -- conditions that are ripe for virus spread.
Ferrer said two recently identified variants of the COVID virus -- BQ.1 and BQ.1.1 -- are beginning to spread more rapidly in the county. Ferrer said federal health authorities believe the BQ variants are likely to "increase rapidly" in coming weeks and could soon represent more than one-third of all infections. "Many are predicting these strains, which are highly transmissible, are likely to drive an increase in cases this fall and winter," she said.
The currently available "bivalent" vaccine booster -- which is engineered specifically to counter Omicron-based variants of the virus -- is believed to be effective against the BQ variants, Ferrer said. But she added the rate of eligible residents receiving the new booster remains very low, and health officials are working to increase their public outreach efforts to encourage people to get the shot.
On Thursday, Los Angeles County reported 1,595 new COVID-19 infections and eight additional deaths linked to the virus, bringing its cumulative totals to 3,501,782 cases and 34,039 fatalities since the pandemic began. The seven-day average daily rate of people testing positive for the virus was 5.8% as of Thursday.
Neighboring Riverside County reported a week-to-week comparison of data showing COVID-19 hospitalizations countywide totaling 87, compared to 79 seven days ago. Six of
those patients were under intensive care, compared to two ICU patients last week -- the lowest count for the year.
In Orange County, COVID-19-related hospitalizations were at 112 as of Wednesday, down from 120 patients last Thursday, according to the Orange County Health Care Agency.. The number of intensive care unit patients went from 16 to 20.
