Last December 15, as the original Omicron wave gained serious momentum, California reinstituted a statewide indoor mask mandate. State Public Health Officer Tomás Aragón said the move was “to add a layer of mitigation as the Omicron variant, a Variant of Concern as labeled by the World Health Organization, increased in prevalence across California, the
BA.5
Ahead of the July 4 weekend, Los Angeles County today reported 6,529 daily Covid infections, which is very nearly the highest total the county has seen since early February. Only the 7,209 recorded on May 31 is higher. L.A. County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said earlier this week that daily infection numbers may be
Estimates released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention today indicate that the share of cases tied to Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5 increased 79% in the past week. That means, even as the more transmissible BA.2.12.1 Omicron subvariant became officially dominant in the U.S. last week, it’s already being pushed out by newcomers
On November 9, 2021, the first case of a new Covid variant was detected in South Africa. On November 26, with cases rising across that country, the World Health Organization declared it a “variant of concern,” noting a likely increased transmissibility. They called it Omicron. By December 1, the first cases were found in the