As Cases, Hospitalizations and Deaths Rise, Wearing Well-Fitting Masks and Testing are Key to Reducing Transmission

With continued increases in COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths over the past two weeks, wearing high-quality respirator masks and getting tested are critical steps to slowing the spread of COVID-19, as vaccination, boosters, and therapeutics remain key strategies for reducing serious illness and death. 

While LA County remains at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or CDC designated COVID-19 community level of medium, the county is likely to move into high later this week as the rate of daily new admissions continues to increase. Using LA County specific data, as of July 11, the county was at 8.8 new admissions per 100,000 people. Once the county reaches 10 new admissions per 100,000 residents, the county will enter the high community level. If the county remains in the high community hevel designation for two consecutive weeks, universal indoor masking, in alignment with the CDC, will be implemented across LA County.

Fueling the high rates of transmission is the increased circulation of new highly transmissible Omicron sub-variants. The Omicron variant continues to account for 100% of the sequenced specimens, with a steady increase in the proportions of the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants.

In both the national data and LA County data, BA.4 and BA.5 both continue to outcompete the BA.2 subvariant and its sublineages, with the BA.5 subvariant increasing at a faster rate than the BA.4 subvariant. With the growing presence of BA.4 and BA.5 in LA County, the number of daily new cases continues to rise. Over the last seven days, the average number of daily new cases reported was 5,706, a 15% increase from two weeks ago when the average number of daily new cases reported was 4,960.

The number of people severely ill and needing to be hospitalized is increasing rapidly. Over the last seven days, the average number of COVID-positive patients per day in LA County hospitals was 1,035, a 40% increase from two weeks ago when the average number of COVID-positive patients per day was 741.

Deaths, which typically lag hospitalizations by several weeks are also increasing, with an average of 14 deaths reported per day this past week, compared to an average of eight deaths two weeks ago.

COVID is still a leading cause of death in LA County. Since January 2022, over 4,300 county residents have died from COVID; this is more than the average number of all annual deaths from influenza, colds, motor vehicle fatalities, and overdoses together. On average, there is only one death each year from the common cold, and less than 1,500 from influenza.

Given the evidence that COVID is more deadly than both colds and influenza, appropriate strategies are needed to reduce high transmission, since only those infected can suffer the most severe of outcomes from the virus.

Studies continue to show that widespread, universal masking with well-fitting, high-quality masks, remains one of the simplest, most effective measures to reduce transmission of COVID.