L.A. County’s new COVID cases have fallen to about 660 a day. But health officials say the rate of decline has plateaued, after mandatory masking rules were lifted and the highly transmissible BA.2 subvariant continues to spread.
Two months since the peak of the omicron surge, Los Angeles County’s new COVID cases have fallen to about 660 cases a day. But health officials say the rate of decline has plateaued, after mandatory masking rules were lifted and the highly transmissible BA.2 subvariant continues to spread.
“Every single time we have reduced the restrictions or the levels of protection that are required, we have always seen an uptick … our job right now is to make sure that this doesn't lead to a significant increase in cases,” county health director Barbara Ferrer said at a press conference Thursday. Nearly a third — 32% — of recent genetically sequenced tests were identified as BA.2, the highly contagious omicron subvariant. Those tests were for the week ending March 12 and the percentage was more than double the 14.7% from the previous week.
Increases in L.A. County reflect patterns seen around the world. Last week, the World Health Organization announced that worldwide, BA.2 accounted for 86% of sequenced cases. On Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated that BA.2 is now the dominant variant in the U.S.
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