Another 1,583 COVID-19 cases were reported in Los Angeles County Tuesday, continuing a string of elevated daily numbers attributed to spread of the infectious BA.2 subvariant of the virus, but hospitalizations of coronavirus patients remained relatively low.
According to state figures, there were 232 COVID-positive patients in county hospitals as of Tuesday, April 26, up from 230 on Monday. Of those patients, 25 were being treated in intensive care, down from 27 a day earlier. The county also reported four additional deaths on Tuesday, raising the overall death toll to 31,941. The 1,583 new infections reported by the county lifted the cumulative pandemic total to 2,865,825.
According to the county Department of Public Health, as of Monday, April 25, the county averaged 1,553 new COVID cases per day over the past seven days, up from 960 two weeks ago. Thus far, however, the increased virus transmission has not translated to major jumps in hospitalizations or deaths. Hospital patient totals have leveled off at a relatively low number after a major drop from last winter’s peak in mid-January. The average daily rate of people testing positive for the virus was 1.6% as of Tuesday.
Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer stressed that the county is still seeing increased transmission of COVID-19, and the infectious BA.2 subvariant of the virus is continuing to spread — now representing 84% of all local cases that undergo special testing to identify variants.
A pair of offshoot “sublineages” of BA.2 have now also been identified, one of which has already been linked to “significant spread” of cases in parts of New York.
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