After officially crossing the threshold of ‘high’ Covid risk on Thursday night, mask orders are likely to return to Los Angeles. According to government instructions, mask mandates will return if the city continues above that threshold for at least 14 days.
The city’s test positivity rate, which has become one of the most effective measures to gauge the current pandemic state, has skyrocketed to 15%, as reported by the city’s health department.
As the BA.5 strain, which is now dominant in the U.S., spreads, case counts are rising again.
In the last week, the number of new infections in the United States has climbed by 30%, to 140,677 a day, while the number of deaths has increased gradually by 25%, to 536 per day.
While it is unclear whether Los Angeles still faces a “high” Covid risk, there is a rising trend in the three important figures: cases, test positivity, and hospitalizations.
According to the most recent official data, the nation’s second largest metropolis is currently experiencing an average of 157 hospitalizations connected to Covid each and every day.
While the current situation is not as dire as the omicron surge of the previous winter, it is far worse than the top of the delta surge. The city’s public health director, Barbara Ferrer, said Thursday that it’s unlikely that this increase has reached its peak.
She did, however, note that compared to other infectious diseases, Covid has killed more individuals in the city through the first half of the year.
Los Angeles will become the only city in America to impose masks in all indoor public areas if officials follow through with plans to reinstate mask restrictions, which would be reinstated as early as July 29.
However, given that New York City officials are attempting to reinstate mask regulations because to an increase in cases there as well, it might not be the last. Mayor Eric Adams, on the other hand, has been reluctant to reintroduce pandemic-related restrictions since taking office in January.
In light of the widespread transmission of the BA.5 type, Dr. Anthony Fauci, America’s foremost infectious disease expert, is now advocating a return of masks.
“[COVID BA.5 is] something we absolutely need to take seriously,” Fauci told MSNBC, adding “It has a transmission advantage over the prior variant that were dominant,”
The new strain, which has arrived, is thought to be the deadliest strain of Omicron yet seen. Early information from South Africa, where it was first identified, suggests it may be able to circumvent the natural Covid immunity conferred by a previous infection.
This is extremely worrisome because it implies that many people who thought they were safe from Covid due to a previous infection are suddenly vulnerable again.
It came along with the BA.4 strain, which was also found earlier this year in South Africa and now accounts for 16% of infections, according to CDC data.
The two new strains have wiped out the previous prevalent BA 2.12.1 strain, which now only accounts for 17% of cases.
The rapid spread of the two new strains, as well as the increased number of cases, has officials like Fauci urging that Americans reintroduce some Covid precautions they may be overly familiar with from the previous two years.
“Everybody wants to put this pandemic behind us and feel and hope that it doesn’t exist. It does, the good news is we have the capability and the tools to address it, and we need to utilize those tools,” Fauci said.
“For example, getting vaccinated if you’re not primarily vaccinated. If you’re do for a booster, get a booster.”
“And if you’re in an area of high dynamic of infection – and were talking about mandating anything – but recommending people when they are in indoor congregate settings to wear a mask. Those are simple doable things that can help prevent us from even having more of a problem then we are having now.”
As vaccine makers plan to roll out new shots in the coming months, it’s likely that soon booster shots will include new jabs made to target the Omicron variant.
The vaccines that are currently on the market were created to combat the virus’s initial Wuhan strain, which broke out over the world at the beginning of 2020.
Since then, the virus has undergone significant mutations, and members of the Omicron variant family are now able to circumvent the vaccines’ infection-prevention effects.
However, some specialists think that doses specific to Omicron are required because the initial shots’ protection against serious infection, hospitalization, and death still works against the extremely contagious strain.
Image Credit: Getty
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