In her weekly briefing to members of the public and press yesterday, LA County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer announced there were 37,215 new cases of COVID-19 recorded on Thursday, by far an all-time high for any time during the current pandemic. And this is true for case rates in our local neighborhood, too, as shown below.
But there was a lot of other news yesterday, too, along with evolving insights into what we’re learning about the now-dominant Omicron variant. So Ferrer also noted that the situation, as always, remains fluid, and that “as this virus changes, we’re going to need to change what we do to slow down transmission.”
Better News for Hospitalizations
In addition to the huge number of new cases, Ferrer said the 7-day average of new cases is also still rising dramatically, as shown by the green line in the chart below, which has now exceeded last year’s winter peak, with no signs of tapering off. The better news, however, is that while the 7-day average of new hospital admissions (orange line) is also rising quickly (and, in fact, doubled in the last week), it’s still nowhere near last year’s peak at this time, which indicates that people aren’t getting quite as sick as they did in last year’s surge. And deaths (blue line below) have not risen much, if any, in recent weeks…although that number does tend to lag behind both new infections and new hospitalizations.
Another interesting facet of the hospitalization numbers in this surge so far, said Ferrer, is that, as has been previously reported and is still holding true, the percentage of all patients who have COVID is also lower than it was during last year’s surge…
And even the percentage of ICU beds occupied by COVID-19 patients is much lower than it was last winter, another indication that at least so far, the current strain of the virus isn’t making people as sick as previous strains.
While all of this is good news though (as is Ferrer’s additional note that there are fewer COVID patients coming in to emergency rooms this year than last), it doesn’t mean that hospitals aren’t still stressed by the increasing numbers. No matter whether COVID patients are in the ICU or not, Ferrer said, and no matter whether or not they were primarily hospitalized for COVID or something else (and then found to also have COVID), all COVID patients do still require additional isolation, and additional personal protective equipment, which still makes caring for them more challenging and more resource-intensive than caring for non-COVID patients.
Omicron Dominance
As expected, Ferrer reported that the highly contagious Omicron, which represented 54% for the week of December 18, was up to more than 75% of all cases locally by December 25 (the most recent date available at the moment).
How Vaccines are Doing
But there is also good news about how vaccines are holding up against Omicron and the current surge. As health officials have expected, while cases are increasing quickly among both vaccinated and unvaccinated populations, the case rate is by far the lowest in people who are fully vaccinated and boosted. And case rates among those who have received two doses of a vaccine without a booster are still far lower than they are for those who are unvaccinated.
The same holds true for hospitalizations, which are still rising much faster for unvaccinated people than they are for those who are vaccinated and, especially, those who are both vaccinated and boosted, which have only begun to be charted in the last few weeks.
And death rate differences are even more striking between the vaccinated and unvaccinated:
Or, to put it another way, among more than 6 million fully vaccinated people in LA County as of January 1, just 3.1% tested positive for COVID. just .05% were hospitalized, and only .01% (one one-hundredth of one percent, or 625 people) died from COVID-19.
As for vaccination progress overall, Ferrer reported that 67% of LA County residents ages five and up are now fully vaccinated, with numbers climbing slowly.
Schools and Workplaces
Meanwhile, with some schools and workplaces re-opening this week after holiday breaks for much of December, Ferrer urged people to continue to be cautious in their daily activities, and to be aware of the current rules for quarantine and isolation for those who have been exposed to COVID, or who may have symptoms and/or test positive. For example, if you test positive for COVID 19, you are now asked to stay home for a minimum of five days, or 10 day if you still have symptoms or test positive at the 5-day mark. If you are exposed, but are vaccinated and don’t have symptoms, you should get tested immediately, and then again at the 5-day mark, and continue to wear a mask for a full 10 days. And if you’re exposed and have symptoms, or are unvaccinated, you should also stay home for five days, get tested, and test-again at the 5-day mark.
In addition, said Ferrer, there have also been some recent updates to the overall Health Officer Order regarding COVID-19. These include that:
- Employers are now required to provide upgraded masks at workplaces
- Employees need to be masked at all times at indoor work sites
- “Mega” events (those with stricter COVID-19 protocols) are now classified as those including more than 500 people indoors and more than 5,000 people outdoors
- Event and entertainment venues must post signs about masking policies
- Customers can be unmasked only while eating or drinking at most entertainment venues, and should only eat or drink in designated areas
Other News
Finally, it’s been a busy few days for COVID-19 news, including these announcements not included in yesterday’s Health Department briefing (click the links for further details):
LAUSD has mandated students be tested for COVID-19 before its classes resume on Tuesday, January 11.
But getting state-promised test kits to students has been a problem.
As hospitalizations rise quickly, hospital staff are also being hit by COVID, increasing staff shortages just as the number of patients goes up.
More than 1,000 emergency responders are also out with COVID, creating shortages of police, firefighters, and paramedics, too.
And, finally, LA County has had to pause a program that allowed residents to request at-home test kits, due to “a current backlog in the logistics of processing these kits.”
