COVID-19 infections are decreasing significantly as case numbers drop daily in Los Angeles and Ventura counties following a surge that produced record-breaking numbers last month.
L.A. County clocked in a seven-day average of 15,477 COVID cases per day as of Thursday, a 72.5 percent decrease from the surge’s peak. Meanwhile, Ventura County has experienced a 57.3 percent decrease in its seven-day average of cases.
Death counts are still on the rise despite the lowering number of cases, as L.A. County reported 528 deaths from Jan. 27 to Feb. 3. Deaths caused by the recent surge are significantly less than what the county experienced during 2021’s winter surge, when vaccines were not as widely available.
This year’s Omicron surge, which peaked in mid-January, caused strain on local hospital systems and at its worst point, registered a seven-day average of 41,682 cases per day in L.A. County.
In previous reporting by the Business Journal, local health care leaders said Omicron’s heightened transmissibility was causing significant staff shortages that were accompanied by increased ICU occupancies.