Cases: The 7-day average number of coronavirus patients at Huntington Health in Pasadena has spiked dramatically in recent days, lagging but mirroring to an extent Los Angeles County’s steady increases in daily infections and hospitalizations since the beginning of November.
As of Thursday, Pasadena’s 7-day average number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases had climbed 137% higher than the rate seen at the beginning of November. As of Friday, the County’s average daily number of new infections over the past seven days was up 44.9 percent.
The current surge is being blamed largely on a pair of new variants of the virus, known as BQ.1 and BQ.1.1. Both are offshoots of the BA.5 variant that was blamed for rises in infection numbers earlier this year.
Ferrer said Thursday that the rising case and hospitalization numbers have moved Los Angeles County from the “low” COVID community activity level to the “medium” category, as defined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She said the County is on pace to reach the “high” level in a matter of days, when the rate of new cases reaches 200 per 100,000 residents. The rate is currently 185 per 100,000 residents.
The move to “medium” did not prompt any immediate changes to public health mandates, such as indoor masking — which remains “strongly recommended” by the County.
But masking could again become mandatory indoors in a matter of weeks, Ferrer said.
The masking mandate would return if the County enters the “high” community level, which is expected by next week, and if the County’s virus-related hospitalization numbers reach two thresholds — if the rate of daily hospital admissions tops 10 per 100,000 residents and the percent of staffed hospital beds occupied by COVID patients tops 10%.
The County has already surpassed the first threshold, with the rate of daily hospital admissions already at 11.9 per 100,000 residents as of Thursday. But the level of hospital beds occupied by COVID patients was still 5.9% as of Thursday, below the 10% threshold.
Masks are still required indoors at health-care and congregate-care facilities, for anyone exposed to the virus in the past 10 days, and at businesses where they are required by the owner.
Ferrer again noted that the actual number of COVID infections in the community is likely much higher than the official numbers reflect — thanks to the prevalent use of at-home tests that aren’t reported to the County, and due to the number of people who are likely sick but don’t get tested at all.
Pasadena is experiencing high levels of COVID-19 circulating throughout the community, reflecting a broader surge in Los Angeles County, health officials said Friday.
With the city already in a high community transmission tier, under federal thresholds, officials said, the city’s public health and medical experts urged people to take resulting precautions as the holiday season arrives amid increasing instances of influenza, respiratory syncytial virus – otherwise known as RSV – and emerging COVID-19 variants.
Surrounding Los Angeles County could move into the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s high-transmission coronavirus category next week.
The good news, according to Shriner, is this year’s flu vaccine and the recently announced bivalent booster appear to be effective in preventing the flu and pushing back on coronavirus, despite uncertainty about emerging variants.
Coronavirus is still prevalent in the community, though, with officials reporting 70 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, Dec. 1, almost double what was tallied at the start of the week, according to the online dashboard.
The status of Friday’s case count was unknown as of this newspapers’s deadline, but the most recent count equates to 37,474 total cases of coronavirus since the start of the pandemic.
Pasadena has its own public health department, as does Long Beach. Both often operate in tandem with the county health department, but they also act independently.
Pasadena Public Health Division Manager Dr. Matthew Feaster noted the counts align with the regional increases of COVID-19 transmission, which is worrisome, since emergent variants and holiday-related social gatherings create “the perfect mix to bring large-scale COVID-19 surges,” he said.
To date, the city’s public health department hasn’t seen a circulating variant as influential as the original omicron, Feaster said.
The current surge is being blamed largely on a pair of new variants of the virus, known as BQ.1 and BQ.1.1. Both are offshoots of the BA.5 variant that was blamed for rises in infection numbers earlier this year.
Countywide, another 4,744 COVID-19 infections were reported Friday, continuing a surge in daily cases that could soon lead to a renewed requirement for people to wear masks at all indoor public spaces.
The new cases gave the county a cumulative total from throughout the pandemic of 3,552,019. Another 14 deaths were also reported Friday, raising the overall virus-related death toll to 34,213.
According to state figures, there were 1,171 COVID-positive patients in county hospitals as of Friday, up from 1,164 a day earlier. Of those patients, 131 were being treated in intensive care units, up from 121 on Thursday.
The seven-day average daily rate of people testing positive for the virus was 12.2% as of Friday.
The county has been logging steady increases in daily infections and hospitalizations since the beginning of November. As of Friday, the county’s average daily number of new infections over the past seven days was 3,053, up from 2,121 a week ago.
Ferrer said Thursday that the rising case and hospitalization numbers have moved Los Angeles County from the “low” COVID community activity level to the “medium” category, as defined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She said the county is on pace to reach the “high” level in a matter of days, when the rate of new cases reaches 200 per 100,000 residents. The rate is currently 185 per 100,000 residents.
The move to “medium” did not prompt any immediate changes to public health mandates, such as indoor masking — which remains “strongly recommended” by the county.
But masking could again become mandatory indoors in a matter of weeks, Ferrer said.
Shriner, Huntington’s lead infectious disease specialist, recalled the hospital looking like “a warzone” at this time last year, but she doesn’t believe care centers will be as impacted this holiday season thanks to the prevalence of vaccines and related coronavirus treatments.
Shriner acknowledged she worries a new variant will evade vaccines, “and put us right back to square one,” she said. Shriner was hopeful masks would still be among prevention strategies.
Acting Director of Public Health Manuel Carmona encouraged all of Pasadena to follow suit and assess their own personal risk factors before heading out to travel.
Other ways to limit the spread of respiratory viruses, according to Pasadena Health Officer Dr. Eric Handler, include staying home if you’re sick, testing for COVID-19 and contacting your doctor for treatment options.
Babies hit hard by virus variant-Omicron increases hospitalization rate for infants to that of seniors, CDC reports. By Rong-Gong Lin II and Luke Money for the LA Times.
Infants younger than 6 months had the same rate of hospitalization as seniors age 65 to 74 during this summer’s Omicron wave, according to a new report.
The findings, published by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, show that COVID-19 can still cause severe and fatal outcomes in children too young to be vaccinated.
During the first Omicron surge last fall and winter, the COVID-19 hospitalization rate spiked for both the youngest infants and younger seniors, eventually reaching about the same rate. During the variant’s summer surge, the hospitalization rate for both groups climbed again, also hitting about the same rate.
In earlier surges, the youngest infants had been hospitalized at rates well below those for seniors age 65 to 74.
The COVID-19 hospitalization rate for the youngest infants during the summer’s Omicron wave was significantly higher than the previous summer’s peak, which was dominated by the Delta variant.
The findings may come as a surprise, especially given the conventional wisdom that younger children and infants are far less likely to fall seriously ill with COVID-19 than older groups.
But the data illustrate how the groups hit hard by the virus can change with the rise and fall of new coronavirus variants. The CDC and American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommend that pregnant and breastfeeding women be vaccinated “to facilitate the passive transfer of antibodies to these very young infants,” Dr. Krysia Lindan, a UC San Francisco professor of epidemiology and biostatistics, said at a recent campus town hall.
And the FLU and RSV: Flu cases across state are ‘off the charts’- CDC finds California is among worst in U.S.; influenza and COVID surge in L.A. County.
By Rong-Gong Lin II for the LA Times.
California is now reporting very high flu levels, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as the respiratory illness continues to surge nationwide.
The CDC uses five overall levels, from minimal to very high, to measure influenza-like illnesses across the U.S. and its territories. On Friday, the agency’s color-coded map showed California and 10 other states, as well as New York City, shaded purple, the worst of the three shades in the very high flu level.
Since the start of October, CDC officials estimate, there have been 78,000 flu hospitalizations and 4,500 deaths nationally.
The California Department of Public Health classifies all of Southern California as having high flu levels, while Central and Northern California are rated moderate. Flu is the reason for nearly 4% of hospitalizations each week at Kaiser’s Northern California facilities, the highest in any of the prior four flu seasons.
In Los Angeles County, flu and COVID-19 cases are surging, and RSV — or respiratory syncytial virus — also remains at a high level.
“This triple threat … has a lot of potential to cause there to be significant circulating illness and to strain our healthcare system — both in terms of the number of beds that are available and the number of healthcare workers that are impacted by illness, which lowers the hospital’s capacity to take care of patients,” L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said in a recent briefing.
The flu positivity rate in L.A. County has reached 25%, a level not seen at this time of year in the last four years. “Clearly, we’re ... off the charts,” Ferrer said. California has recorded at least 36 flu-related deaths since the start of October, based on death certificate data. That figure is probably an undercount.
The positivity rate for RSV also remains elevated — around 15%, higher than in any of the four prior cold-and-flu seasons, which run October through September.
There are indications that RSV activity may have peaked in L.A. County in early November and is starting to decline. In late October, the positivity rate exceeded 20%, according to county data. But it’s possible the 15% rate is simply a result of more people being tested for the virus, Ferrer said.
At Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, the RSV positivity rate is 23%. That’s down considerably from Nov. 1, when it was 38%. But the latest figure is still quite high and is about the same as during the peak for all of last winter, 24%. The emergency room at Children’s Hospital is so busy that it cannot always accommodate patient transfers from other hospitals.
The positivity rate for flu at Children’s Hospital is 19%; before Thanksgiving, it was 12%.
Orange County’s RSV situation remains the same as it was the prior week, according to its Health Care Agency, where officials declared a public health emergency over RSV and other viral illnesses stressing children’s hospitals. Increasing coronavirus-positive hospitalizations are exacerbating the RSV situation, as a rise in COVID-19 hospital patients means there are fewer hospital beds available, the agency said.
At Kaiser’s Northern California hospitals, about 2.2% of hospital admissions are related to RSV, down from 2.3% last week, according to the most recent available data. Those rates are higher than in the five preceding cold-and-flu seasons.
There have been at least 14 RSV-related deaths, according to California death certificate data, since the start of October. The figure is probably an undercount.
In addition to wearing a mask, one of the easiest ways to reduce your risk of catching the flu or other viral illnesses is to avoid touching your face, health experts say.
The CDC notes that people can be infected with flu and RSV by touching contaminated surfaces, where some viruses can survive for days, and then their face.
The Economy: The US economy added more jobs than expected in November in a sign that demand for new workers remains strong despite the Federal Reserve’s historic efforts to cool the economy.
Jay Powell tried to dampen investor expectations the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates any time soon in a hawkish speech that signalled the US central bank has a long way to go in its fight against inflation.
Inflation in the eurozone has fallen for the first time in 17 months, raising hopes that the biggest price surge for a generation has peaked and the European Central Bank will be able to shift to smaller interest rate rises next month.
President Biden signed a bill Friday to avert a freight rail strike that he said could have plunged the U.S. into a catastrophic recession.
At the White House, Biden signed a measure passed Thursday by the Senate and Wednesday by the House.
It binds rail companies and workers to a proposed settlement that was reached between the railroads and union leaders in September but rejected by some of the union workers.
The president, for decades a vocal labor ally, called it the “right thing to do” given the risks to an economy that is battling high inflation.
Members of four of the 12 unions involved had rejected the proposed terms as lacking sufficient paid sick leave. Biden acknowledged the shortcoming as he said he would continue to push for that benefit for every U.S. worker.
Rejection of the settlement had created the risk of a strike beginning Dec. 9, jeopardizing key shipments during the holiday season.
A freight rail strike also would have had a big potential effect on passenger rail because Amtrak and many commuter railroads rely on tracks owned by the freight railroads.
The president said that a strike would have sunk the U.S. economy, causing about 765,000 job losses by rupturing supply chains. Basic goods, food and the chemicals needed to ensure clean drinking water and make gasoline could have gone undelivered.
Rising prices already have many Americans afraid of a coming downturn, but the U.S. job market has been steady.
Friday’s jobs report showed that wages for workers rose 5.1% last month from a year earlier. That’s an acceleration from October’s 4.9% gain and easily topped economists’ expectations for a slowdown.
Jumps in pay are helpful to workers who are struggling to keep up with higher prices for daily necessities. But the Federal Reserve worries that too-strong gains could cause inflation to become further entrenched in the economy. That’s because wages make up a big part of costs for companies in service industries, and they could end up raising their own prices further to cover higher wages for their employees.
Across the economy, employers added 263,000 jobs last month. That was stronger hiring than economists’ forecasts for 200,000, while the unemployment rate held steady at 3.7%. Many Americans also continue to stay entirely out of the job market, which could increase the pressure on employers to raise wages.
A labor market that remains much stronger than expected could make an already dicey situation for the Fed even more complicated. It’s trying to slow the economy just enough to prevent the buying activity that gives inflation its oxygen, without going so far as to create a recession. The Fed has signaled it will probably push the unemployment rate to at least 4.4% in its fight against inflation.
But expectations are rising for what the Fed will do in 2023. Treasury yields jumped immediately after the release of the jobs report. That indicates strengthened expectations for the Fed to stay resolute in hiking interest rates.
The strong employment data follow up on several mixed reports on the economy. The nation’s manufacturing activity shrank last month for the first time in 30 months, for example, while the housing industry is struggling under the weight of much higher mortgage rates. Such data points had raised hopes the Fed’s rate hikes were taking effect and would ultimately pull down inflation.
Even though Friday’s report showed hiring was stronger than expected, it also clearly demonstrated that the nation’s downward trend in hiring is continuing. November’s job gains matched the low seen in April 2021.
More economists are forecasting the U.S. economy will fall into a recession next year in large part because of higher interest rates.