COVID-19 Indicators Continue to Decline in LA County

COVID-19 indicators continue to decline, yet remain above pre-surge levels in Los Angeles County. This week, reported average daily COVID-19 cases have decreased from 262 reported last week to 218. Reported cases do not include home tests, so the actual number of COVID-19 infections in the community is higher.

Wastewater concentrations of SARS CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, are at 52 percent of the 2022-2023 winter peak for the week ending Feb. 3. This is an increase from 36 percent one week prior but a decline from 64 percent two weeks prior. Wastewater data can be subject to larger week-to-week fluctuations than other metrics. Looking at the overall trend in wastewater data indicates that COVID-19 transmission is declining, but still elevated compared to pre-surge levels.

There was an average of 481 COVID-positive hospitalized patients for the week ending Feb. 10, a decrease from the average of 570 COVID-positive hospitalized patients for the previous week.

COVID-19 deaths have plateaued with 5.7 average daily deaths for the week ending Jan. 23, essentially the same as 5.6 average daily deaths for the week before. Changes in the death metric may be seen later than other metrics due to both the time needed to receive death certificates and the natural progression of the disease.

Public Health reports COVID-19 data weekly. The following table shows case, wastewater, emergency department, hospitalization, and death data in Los Angeles County over the past four weeks.