New Coronavirus News from 30 Apr 2022

Los Angeles County COVID Cases Up 40% Over Past Week [WebMD, 30 Apr 2022]

By Carolyn Crist

April 29, 2022 -- Coronavirus cases in Los Angeles County increased 40% during the past week, and hospitalizations have begun to rise as well, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Health officials aren’t yet sounding alarm bells about the numbers, the newspaper reported, though they indicated that the trends show an ongoing rise in virus transmission.

“Since the beginning of the pandemic, we’ve all had to make choices about how to best protect ourselves and others from COVID-19,” Barbara Ferrer, the county’s public health director, told reporters on Thursday.

Ferrer called the latest increase “pretty significant” and encouraged people to take actions to limit the spread of the virus.

“With cases on the rise, the potential for more contagious variants, and lots of opportunities to be exposed, this is a great time to make a choice to get vaccinated or boosted and to wear a mask or respirator when you’re indoors and around others,” she said.

During the past week, the county has reported an average of about 1,765 new cases per day, which is up from about 1,260 daily cases a week ago and double the 880 daily cases reported in early April.

Per capita, the county’s case rate has risen to 122 cases a week per 100,000 residents, the newspaper reported. The case rate exceeded 100 during the previous weekend, meaning that the nation’s most populous county now has a high rate of transmission again for the first time since early March.

The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients has also increased during the past week after months of decline. On Friday, 253 patients were hospitalized, according to state data, up from 209 the week before.

The BA.2 subvariant accounts for about 88% cases in Los Angeles, the newspaper reported. The more recent Omicron subvariant, known as BA.2.12.1, accounts for a majority of cases in New York and New Jersey and will likely become dominant in California in the coming days, Ferrer said.

Wastewater surveillance also shows that coronavirus levels have doubled across large parts of Los Angeles during the past two weeks, the newspaper reported. Nursing homes, workplaces, and schools have also reported an increase in the number of outbreaks in the past two weeks.
“So let’s continue to be cautious,” Ferrer said.

‘Much stronger’ Covid variants detected [news.com.au, 30 Apr 2022]

by Holly Hales

Two “much stronger” strains of Covid-19 have been detected in Australia, sparking fears of another spike in new cases.

Authorities have discovered two new Covid variants in Australia, with one expert labelling them “much stronger” than the current dominant strain.

The shock finding came when a traveller from South Africa to NSW was detected to have the BA. 4 sub-variant of Omicron – a first known case of its kind in Australia.

Victorian testing facilities also detected the BA. 2.12.1 Omicron strain in Melbourne wastewater.

The initial Omicron variant has been Australia’s dominant strain since its arrival in November 2021.

However, University of South Australia epidemiologist Adrian Esterman said the newly detected strains were “more dominant” than their predecessor and could cause a new spike in cases.

“What we know about BA. 4 is that it appears to escape the immune system a bit better than BA. 2, so that means that people who’ve already been infected can be reinfected more easily, and people who are vaccinated can be infected more easily,” he told 7 News.

“This comes just at the stage we’re removing all our public health measures. That’s the bad news.”

However, Prof Esterman said the huge surplus in positive cases over the past six months had given Australians good immunity against the new strains.

“Many people have been infected now and those who haven’t been infected probably have quite good immune systems from being vaccinated, so we have got a bit of protection from major increases in cases from these two sub-variants,” he said.

The case was discovered through a PCR test on Thursday after the traveller arrived in Australia in the first week of April.

“This is not a random sample, therefore the proportion of variants identified is not necessarily reflective of their distribution in the community,” NSW Health said.

“NSW Health continues to closely monitor the evolving situation with COVID-19.”

Australian has recorded tens of thousands of cases every day since Omicron was first detected in November 2021.

It has since been discovered to be wildly more infectious, but less severe than previous Covid strains.
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