The percentage of COVID-19-positive hospital patients admitted to intensive care units in Los Angeles County is slowly rising, despite suggestions that the Omicron variant of the virus causes less severe infections, health officials said.
Los Angeles County reported a staggering 16,510 new COVID-19 cases in its latest data, one of the highest daily totals of the pandemic and up nearly 75% from Tuesday, while the hospitalization number soared again, prompting a call for residents to rethink their holiday gathering plans.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious disease expert, said Monday the nation should consider a vaccination mandate for domestic air travel, signaling a potential embrace of an idea the Biden administration has previously eschewed, as COVID-19 cases spike.
For the first time since late September, the number of people in Los Angeles County hospitals with COVID-19 surpassed the 1,000 mark today, echoing a sharp upward trend in infections and a dramatic increase in the rate of people testing positive for the virus.
The U.S. will lift travel restrictions on eight southern African countries that it imposed to try to blunt the spread of the COVID omicron variant, the White House announced Friday.
The average daily rate at which people are testing positive for the coronavirus has risen to 15% as of Friday, more than triple the rate from a week ago and nearly topping 10,000 new cases.