BA.5 Fuels Increase in COVID Metrics; Residents in High Poverty Areas Hospitalized At Faster Rate

The highly infectious BA.5 subvariant is fueling the rapid spread of COVID-19, leading to increases in Los Angeles County cases, hospitalizations and deaths, with residents in areas of high poverty being hospitalized at a higher rate.

In LA County, the Omicron variant continues to account for 100% of the county’s sequenced specimens, with BA.5 dominating, representing 48% of all sequenced specimens.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or CDC estimates that, across the country, as of the week ending July 9, the BA.5 subvariants of Omicron accounted for nearly 70% of specimens, a considerable increase from the 40% just two weeks prior. In both the national data and LA County data, BA.5 continues to outcompete the BA.2 subvariant and its sublineages and is increasing at a faster rate than the BA.4 subvariant.

Further, the number of daily new cases continues to rise. Over the last seven days, the average number of daily new cases reported was 6,742, a 24% increase from two weeks ago when the average number of daily new cases reported was 5,425. Additionally, the test positivity rate has now increased to 16.5%.

The number of people severely ill and needing to be hospitalized is also increasing. Over the last seven days, the average number of COVID-19-positive patients per day in LA County hospitals was 1,243, a 52% increase from two weeks ago when the 7-day average number of COVID-positive patients per day was 820. The hospital admission rate has also increased over the last two weeks. On July 13, the weekly hospital admission rate was 10.5 residents per 100,000 people, a 50% increase from two weeks prior when the rate was seven residents per 100,000 people on June 29. Of those hospitalized, on average, 42% are hospitalized with COVID-related illness.

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.

Public Health continues to note the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 among some communities, including those communities with high rates of poverty.

As of July 8, hospitalization rates in the lowest income communities were 71% higher than in the highest income areas, with 20 residents per 100,000 in the lowest income communities hospitalized compared to just 12 residents per 100,000 in the highest income areas. Additionally, compared to one month ago, hospitalization rates in the lowest income areas increased 24%, while there was only a 7% increase in hospitalization rates in the highest income areas.