With coronavirus cases slowly rising, LA County health officials urge vigilance ahead of spring holidays

Considered far more infectious than omicron, BA.2 is being blamed for infection spikes in areas such as Australia and the United Kingdom.

The county’s average number of daily new COVID-19 infections over the past seven days, as of Friday, was 892, up from 724 during the previous seven days — a 23% increase. Another 1,263 new cases were reported Friday, raising the overall pandemic total to 2,843,599. The seven-day average daily rate of people testing positive for the virus rose slightly to 1.2% on Friday, up from 1% a day earlier.

BA.2 represented 47% of all cases in the county that underwent specialized testing to identify coronavirus variants this week, Ferrer said on Thursday. The percentage is likely higher, she said, since the data reflects cases from two weeks ago. During the previous week, BA.2 represented 32% of infections, up from 16% the week prior to that.

Yet, despite BA.2 increasing its foothold in the county and causing cases to rise, hospitalizations and deaths have not yet increased in a similar manner — a likely result of the county’s overall 75% vaccination rate, as well as people carrying virus protection because of a prior infection.

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