KTLA

Optimism grows as omicron peaks in California, but emergence of new subtype raises questions

A healthcare worker gives instructions to a person on how to swab their nose as they receive testing for both rapid antigen and PCR COVID-19 tests at a Reliant Health Services testing site in Hawthorne on Jan. 18, 2022. (Patrick T. FALLON / AFP via Getty Images)

There is growing optimism that the overall Omicron surge has peaked in California, but progress across the state remains uneven.

The improvement is most pronounced in places like Los Angeles County and the San Francisco Bay Area, where health officials have voiced increased confidence in recent days that the coronavirus test positivity rate, as well as daily new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations, have either stabilized or begun to convincingly decline.


“This downward trend is encouraging, and it signals that we’re likely to have passed the peak of Omicron transmission and are beginning to see a real decline in the number of newly infected individuals,” L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said.

One potential wrinkle, though, is the emergence of a subtype of Omicron.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.