COVID-19 News and Discussions

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LA County COVID-19 Hospitalizations Top 1,000 as Virus Spread Continues

Source: NBC Los Angeles
The number of COVID-19-positive patients in LA County hospitals has jumped past the 1,000 mark and the county has reported its highest daily number of virus-related deaths since late March.

The county Department of Public Health reported 18 COVID deaths on Friday, the largest daily number since March 30. The fatalities raised the county's virus-related death toll to 32,413.

According to state figures, there were 1,021 COVID-positive patients in county hospitals as of Friday, up from 989 on Thursday. The number of those patients being treated in intensive care was 99, down from 103 a day earlier.

Hospital numbers have been steadily rising in recent months, an increase health officials have attributed to renewed rapid spread of the virus thanks to the infectious BA.4 and BA.5 variants, which authorities say are highly contagious and capable of re-infecting previous patients.
Read more: https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/loca ... s/2934292/
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weatheriscool
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COVID in California: Hospitalizations in California up 63% in a month
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
COVID-19 vaccine uptake among babies and toddlers in the Bay Area appears to be far outpacing statewide and national rates of 2.4% and 1.5%, respectively, according to early figures provided by several local health departments. Coronavirus hospitalizations in California and the Bay Area have reached their highest point since February, when the region was still coming out of the winter omicron surge.

Here are the latest updates:

COVID-19 hospitalizations in California up 63% in a month

There were 4,227 people hospitalized with COVID-19 in California as of Tuesday, according to state data, marking more than a 63% increase in the past month. Bay Area hospitals reported 796 patients, according to data from the California Department of Public Health, also a substantial uptick from June. About half the hospitalizations may be incidental, according to state officials, meaning patients were hospitalized for another reason but tested positive while there. California’s coronavirus test positive rate has increased to 16.1%, compared to 8.7% on June 10. The state is averaging 21 deaths per day due to COVID-19, having now surpassed 92,000 total pandemic deaths. COVID-19 cases remain stubbornly high, with California reporting 43 daily cases per 100,000 residents — a figure that has fluctuated little since early June. The highly transmissible BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants of omicron make up about 4 out of 5 sequenced cases in the Northern California region, according to CDC data.

COVID-19 pandemic “nowhere near over,” says WHO head

Evolved versions of the coronavirus are driving another wave of COVID-19 infections globally and “putting further pressure on stretched health systems and health workers,” according to the head of the World Health Organization. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference in Geneva on Tuesday that while the world is better prepared to handle new surges, people should not let their guard down. “As the virus pushes at us, we must push back,” he said. Hospitalizations are on the rise due to more transmissible subvariants of omicron, and deaths are also increasing in some regions as mitigation measures have largely been discarded, allowing for “new, fitter variants emerging, with different degrees of virulence, transmissibility, and immune escape potential.” Ghebreyesus concluded, “New waves of the virus demonstrate again that the COVID-19 is nowhere near over.”
Read more: https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/art ... 298154.php
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Los Angeles Set To Reach The CDC's "High" Covid Community Level In Next 48 Hours, Says Top Health Of
Source: Deadline
UPDATED: Los Angeles County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer confirmed today the county is on pace to move into the “high” COVID-19 community level by this Thursday. If the county remains in the “high” level for two consecutive weeks, it will again impose a mandatory indoor mask-wearing mandate. The level is determined by hospitalization rates. According to state figures, there are now 1,153 Covid-positive patients in county hospitals, with 115 of them being treated in intensive care.

On Saturday, L.A. saw its highest number of daily new cases since the original Omicon wave in January at 8,359. One important difference however is that, while the average 7-day test positivity in the county was just under 8.5% at the end of January, today it is close to 15%. The current dominant BA.5 subvariant is also thought to be many times more transmissible than the original Omicon that caused the winter wave.
Read more: https://deadline.com/2022/07/los-angele ... 235060083/
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US health officials urge booster shots as COVID variants spread

12 Jul 2022

The Biden administration is calling on people to exercise renewed caution about COVID-19, emphasising the importance of getting booster shots for those who are eligible and wearing masks indoors as two new highly transmissible variants are spreading rapidly across the United States.

The new coronavirus variants, labelled BA.4 and BA.5, are offshoots of the Omicron strain that has been responsible for nearly all of the virus spread in the US and are even more contagious than their predecessors. White House doctors stressed the importance of getting booster doses, even if you have recently been infected.

“Currently, many Americans are under vaccinated, meaning they are not up to date on their COVID-19 vaccines,” said Dr Rochelle Walensky, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “Staying up to date on your COVID-19 vaccines provides the best protection against severe outcomes.”

Walensky said the US has seen a doubling in the number of hospitalisations due to COVID-19 since April, reflecting the spread of the new subvariants, though deaths have remained steady at around 300 per day.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/7/1 ... nts-spread
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On a Scale of 1 to 10, Here's How Worried You Should Be About The COVID Variant BA.5
by
July , 2022

Introduction:
(Science Alert) There's a new coronavirus variant traveling around this summer at a record clip.

It's a variant of Omicron called BA.5, and it's causing a stir largely because it has evolved even further away than other Omicron variants did from the coronavirus we already knew.

Previously, getting infected with Omicron meant you probably had some protection against reinfection for a few months.

But BA.5 is strategically evading our built-up defenses against prior versions of the virus. This all means that reinfections – even in vaccinated and recently infected people – are up, way up.
Conclusion:
"If it is a fresh lung-transplant patient, the number would be 10. For a healthy 18-year-old,” (who is fully vaccinated and boosted and wears a mask in appropriate situations) “it would be 0," he said. "Risk is not one-size-fits-all."

Read more here: https://www.sciencealert.com/on-a-scal ... nt-ba-5
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UK daily cases for this current wave (BA.4/5) peaked this week at ~350,000.

The total infected has yet to peak, but will probably do so early next week at ~4.7 million, as this graph shows. It'll be interesting to see if the downslope matches the previous wave.

https://health-study.joinzoe.com/data#levels-over-time


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Over-50s in England to be offered Covid booster and flu jab in autumn
Fri 15 Jul 2022 16.30 BST

Everyone over 50 in England is to be offered another Covid booster and a flu shot from September.

Another round of Covid boosters will also be available for staff and residents of care homes for older people, frontline health and social care workers, adult carers, household contacts of people with weakened immune systems, and those at clinical risk, including pregnant women.

The move follows final advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation and significantly broadens the number of people it originally suggested should be eligible for autumn boosters in its interim advice in May.

The JCVI decided to widen the vaccine offer after reviewing the rapid spread of the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of Omicron, which are driving the UK’s current wave of infections. There were also benefits in aligning the Covid booster campaign with the rollout of annual flu vaccinations, advisers said.

“We have provided our final recommendations for the autumn programme to ensure the NHS and wider health system has time to plan a vaccine rollout well ahead of the winter season,” said Prof Anthony Harnden, deputy chair of the JCVI.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/ ... -in-autumn
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