COVID Hospitalizations Surge In LA As Reinfections Quicken

LOS ANGELES, CA — Coronavirus hospitalizations surged to 920 patients in Los Angeles County Wednesday, rising by 100 cases since the holiday weekend as cases and deaths also continued to climb. The county's hospitalization tally is four times what it was less than three months ago.

Fueled by the contagious BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants, coronavirus transmission in the county is high, prompting the local TV and film industry to reimpose indoor mask mandates, according to County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer. The city of Malibu is also now requiring indoor masking among city staff at City Hall in an effort to contain the spread of the virus. The average daily rate of people testing positive for the virus continued to rise, reaching 16.5%

Part of the problem is that immunity from prior Omicron infections is short-lived when it comes to the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants, according to Dr. Robert Wachter, Chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.

"In fact, this is one of the biggest implications of BA.5: a prior infection – including an Omicron infection as recent as last month – no longer provides robust protection from reinfection," Wachter tweeted. "We’re seeing such folks get reinfected within 1-2 months."

To date, there have been 3,148,370 confirmed cases in Los Angeles County, and residents hoping that previous infection will keep them from getting sick again are misguided, according to experts such as Wachter.

He said immunity from first and second booster shots is also waining in about two months, though they continue to offer strong defense against hospitalization and death.

At this point, people throughout the county should be masking indoors in public places, Ferrer said.

Health officials said outbreaks are being reported at summer camps, youth programs and day care sites.
In addition to masking, parents can protect their families by getting their children vaccinated, health officials urged. While kids tend to experience milder infections, they can still be dangerous or lead to longer-term health issues.

The county to date has confirmed 312 cases of the COVID-related Multi- Symptom Inflammatory Syndrome in Children, or MIS-C. According to the health department, two children under age 5 in the county have died of COVID during the pandemic, along with three kids aged 5 to 11 and six between 12 and 17 years old.

The county's overall hospitalization rate has reached more than 8 per 100,000 residents, and the county is on pace to reinstitute mask mandates before the end of the month, according to health officials.

Of the 920 COVID-positive patients in county hospitals Wednesday, 89 of were being treated in intensive care. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health reported 4,879 new infections and 14 additional deaths related to the virus. The number of new cases is believed to be an undercount due to the prevalence of take-home COVID tests, the results of which are not always reported to the county.

Health officials have said that many of those patients entered the hospital for other reasons before testing positive for COVID, but they still place an added burden on hospital staff as they require special care.

Statewide, the number of COVID-positive patients rose by 434 people over the previous 24 hours to 4,035.

Ferrer last week noted an uptick in infections related to workplaces, and urged employers to implement infection-control measures in indoor spaces, such as masking and maintaining physical distancing in communal areas.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.